Sustainable cleaning options that are appropriate for critical environments are difficult to find. In April 2020, Contec launched the cleanroom industry’s first “green” sustainable polyester wipe that is made from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles. Contec has now announced that ReFIBE is available validated sterile to 10-6 for the most critical environments.
“ReFIBE has been such a fulfilling project to work on,” says Amy Russ, Global Project Manager for the Cleanroom Division. “We consider it our responsibility to offer clean, sustainable alternatives to our customers, and ReFIBE wipes are just the beginning. We are excited to develop more sustainable options for both existing Contec products and new innovations in the months and years to come.”
How does it work?
There are multiple steps taken to make ReFIBE wipes. First, recycled plastic bottles are collected. They are then chopped into flake and cleaned. The bottle flake is melted, filtered and formed into chips. These chips are melted and made into yarn. The yarn is then knitted into ReFIBE wipes.
ReFIBE is laser-cut with heatsealed edges and cleanroom laundered to reduce the number of releasable particles and fibers. ReFIBE is available sterile and non-sterile in two sizes, 9” x 9” and 12” x 12”.
Each case of non-sterile 9” x 9” wipes contains approximately 840 plastic bottles and each case of non-sterile 12” x 12” wipes contains approximately 480 plastic bottles. For each case of sterile 9” x 9” wipes, approximately 560 plastic bottles and approximately 640 plastic bottles for each case of sterile 12” x 12” wipes.
