The NEO 3R 9.8 mm marks a genuine milestone in the development of sustainable ropes. It is the first rope to be half made from reused ropes. With the NEO 3R, through many years of development work and the use of special processing techniques when weaving the materials, we have succeeded in manufacturing a recycled rope that meets the high requirements to which climbing ropes are subjected. The perfect symbiosis of safety and sustainability!

The loop is closing. Following years of development work, we have finally succeeded in manufacturing a rope that is half made of recycled ropes: the NEO 3R 9.8 MM—a milestone in sustainable rope production.

THE CHALLENGE

Recycling plastics like polyamide is generally quite straightforward. In fact, EDELRID has manufactured products from recycled ropes before.

In the case of dynamic ropes, however, things are far more difficult. The process of recycling generally leads to a lower quality material. In the past, it has not been technically feasible to use such material to make ropes that meet the high safety requirements of EN 892—and this is an area in which no compromises can be made as, ultimately, people's lives hang on these ropes!

THE SOLUTION

After six years of intensive research in cooperation with various institutes and state funding programs, we have finally succeeded in developing a way to produce ropes that are fully certified to EN 892/UIAA and made from re-used pre-consumer ropes. This enables us to put the leftover rope from production processes straight back into the production cycle, thereby conserving resources.

To achieve the above, the starting material is ground up in a multi-stage process and turned into agglomerate and granulate. In contrast to injection molding material, which is easy to produce, the challenge now lies in obtaining spinnable material that can be used to make high-strength yarns. Furthermore, these high-performance yarns have to be in harmony with other recycled and new materials, i.e. they must complement each other. This is the only way to ensure that the high standards regarding strength, elongation and other such factors are fulfilled. The machines and entire production process also have to be modified for such a rope.

On December 5, 2018, our hard work finally paid off: on this historic day, we succeeded in manufacturing our first ever rope made of 100% recycled material. That it would be another two years before this rope could go into series production highlights the complexity of the procedure.

The world's first recycled rope will now be available from retailers from spring 2021: the NEO 3R 9.8 MM. This is made of 50% recycled ropes.

Many people will now ask themselves why only 50%? Due to the low volumes and complex production process, recycled yarn is still about three times as expensive as conventional, new yarn. To offer the NEO 3R 9.8 MM at an affordable price, we decided to go with a 1:1 ratio of recycled to new yarns.

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Edelrid Neo 3R 9.8mm Rope