DIC Corporation announced that wholly owned subsidiary Sun Chemical has expanded its ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX certified colorant portfolio for spin-dyed fibers, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable fibers processing for textiles.

The newly added products provide excellent suitability for polyamide and polyacrylics, complementing the existing ECO PASSPORT colorant portfolio that contains products suitable for polypropylene, polyester and polyamide. The number of ECO PASSPORT certified colorants has increased to 19 total products.

With this certification, the company has reached a new milestone in its continual effort to support sustainable fiber coloration for the textiles and plastics industries, supporting the increasing need for recyclability to achieve climate-neutral products as well as the circularity by design concept as it applies to fiber coloration

By controlling potentially harmful chemicals even if they are not regulated, the ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX certification signals high product purity to the fiber industry. It is widely recognized by the plastics and textile industries as one of the benchmarks when it comes to certifying starting materials used in production.

To achieve the sought-after certification, colorants must undergo a rigorous analysis by OEKO-TEX and are only confirmed if they meet specific requirements for sustainability and safety. The outlined criteria is directly associated with the relevant levels in the Zero Discharge Hazardous Chemicals Manufacture Restricted Substance List (ZDHC MRSL) 2.0 conformance.

Once certified, the colorants can be published on the ZDHC Gateway, the online portal from the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals, an important tool for stakeholders across the value chain to verify conformance when coloring their formulations for textiles and plastics products.