Synthetic-free bonding and labeling solution for a plastic-free hair ties

实际上，市场上有各种各样的护发产品。不幸的是，许多这样的发带全部或部分由合成聚合物制成，这些聚合物可能需要几十年才能分解。目前的估计显示，在北美，每天有1500万条发带被丢弃或丢失，其中大多数是由塑料成分制成的，这意味着它们可能需要多年才能分解。例如，尼龙织物需要大约30-40年才能在环境中分解。所提出的发带解决方案为大的环境问题提供了功能和时尚的解决方案。合作伙伴目前生产的产品是市场上极少数商业化的无塑料发带之一。它们由平织有机棉纤维（75%）和弹性纤维（25%）制成。该产品的需求不断增长，并努力扩大其生产规模以跟上需求。合作伙伴一直在寻找一种替代劳动密集型的连接程序，其头发的关系。实际上，接合过程涉及编织弹性带的两端的手动缝合（缝合）。该产品目前的挑战是如何将弹性织物的两端密封在一起。基本的解决方案，现在涉及到棉花标签和酒吧钉缝合。这种解决方案的问题是，它经常被头发卡住，也不能扩展到更小的应用（他们目前的弹性织物是11毫米宽，他们正在开发一个5毫米的版本和一个4毫米直径的圆形版本）。拟议的项目包括开发一种生态的无塑料发带粘合解决方案，以取代缝纫/缝合程序。凭借CTT集团在聚合物和粘结系统方面的专业知识和声誉，将开发一种新的粘结系统和工艺用于发带，这种工艺最终可以使用并扩大规模以满足当前的产品规格。

There is actually a great diversity of hair ties products on the market. Unfortunately, many such hair ties are made totally or partially with synthetic polymers that may take decades to decompose. Current estimates show that 15 million hair ties are tossed or lost daily in North America and most of them are made from plastic-based ingredients, meaning they may take many years to break down. For example, nylon fabrics takes approximately 30-40 years to decompose in the environment. The proposed hair ties solution offers a functional and fashionable solution to a large environmental problem. The current product manufactured by the partner is one of the very few commercially-available plastic-free hair tie on the market. They are made from a flat woven organic cotton fiber (75%) and elastomeric fiber (25%). The product has a growing demand and efforts are made to scale its production to keep up with the demand. The partner has been looking for an alternative to labor intensive joining procedure for its hair ties. Actually, the joining procedure involves manual sewing (stitching) of two ends of a woven elastic band. The present challenge with the product is how to seal the two ends of the elastic fabric together. The basic solution right now involves a cotton label and bar-tack stitching. The problem with this solution is that it often gets caught in the hair and also does not scale to smaller applications (their current elastic fabric is 11mm wide and they are developing a 5mm version and a 4mm diameter round version). The proposed project consists in the development of an ecological, plastic-free bonding solution for hair ties to replace the sewing/stitching procedure. Provided the expertise and reputation of CTT Group with polymers and bonding systems, a new bonding system and procedure will be developed for hair ties, such procedure could be eventually used and scaled-up to meet current product specifications.