The textile companies quickly needed a trustworthy seal of approval
Time is of the essence, it said from the ministry: Textile companies have contacted that need such a seal quickly. Dissel accepted the challenge. As a certification expert, he is ultimately familiar with standards and tests.
“Our phones rang the very next day! Textile companies asked what they had to submit for an examination. ”These included, for example, the textile finisher van Clewe from Dingden or the Rofa clothing works, a supplier of protective work clothing from Schüttorf.
Just a few days later, Dissel’s team was stretching, tearing and cutting the first samples of the textile protective masks for everyday use. “We had a wide variety of masks in the laboratory: made of cotton or nonwoven, two or three layers, with hygienic fleece on the inside, made of moisture-repellent or moisture-attracting material,” explains the director of the institute.
Certificates and seals of approval are translated into 14 languages
Around twelve million everyday masks had been produced in this country by the end of May. A large part of it went through the testing of the institute: A procedure in which the products were tested for a certain particle tightness within three days, the seating comfort was tested and the washability was examined carefully. Criteria that were defined in a simplified approval process due to the corona.
“With this certificate, the companies could then offer their masks to public institutions or bulk buyers,” explains Dissel. A regulation that still applies today.
The institute’s 40 or so freelance employees are just as meticulous when it comes to sustainability. According to Dissel, the institute’s sustainability and environmental certificates have already been translated into 14 languages. Before they are awarded, the experts check textile companies, for example, with a catalog of 75 questions. Such certification is even financially supported by the institute.
The criteria are more extensive than for a mask test. “For example, we look at whether and how a company is optimizing processes to save resources, or whether it is trying to shorten procurement routes in order to improve its carbon footprint,” says Dissel. What is important for the business economist: “You have to be able to afford sustainability! Only if a company is doing well economically can it afford green electricity, more efficient machines or more expensive procurement channels for sustainably sourced raw materials. “
And this is becoming more and more important. Dissel’s experience: In many industries, certified proof of sustainability has become the standard in order to be accepted as a supplier. This also seems to have resonated with the companies who had their masks checked at the institute: “Some of them hired us afterwards – to receive our sustainability certificate.”
source https://pledgetimes.com/corona-experts-from-the-german-institute-for-sustainability-economy-test-masks/
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