Environmental not-for-profit Canopy, third-party auditor Preferred by Nature (formerly NEPCon), and Grasim Industries Limited (Unit: Century Rayon) released the India headquartered viscose filament yarn (VFY) producer’s first CanopyStyle audit report.

The audit found that while the majority of the yarn manufacturing is at low risk of sourcing from priority Ancient and Endangered Forests and other controversial sources, additional verification is required to determine risk levels for one remaining supplier. The supplier verification will be conducted in the first half of 2021, pending the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. While the Century Rayon facility that produces viscose filament yarn (VFY) is managed by Aditya Birla Group, it is independently owned by Century Textiles & Industries Ltd with a dedicated ranking for Century now appearing in the 2020 Hot Button Ranking.

“The audit results show that Century Rayon is doing important work with Next Generation Fibre solutions, which is critical if we are to meet scientifically supported targets of protecting 30-50% of forests by 2030,” said Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director at Canopy. “We look forward to seeing additional results from the supplier site visit and are encouraged that Century Rayon will be proactively addressing this information gap in its supply chain.”

“Century Rayon is excited to be part of the CanopyStyle Initiative, and working collaboratively to reduce the impact of our operations on forests. We look forward to continuing this important work with Canopy,” said Mr. Omprakash R. Chitlange, CEO of Grasim Industries Limited (VFY – Fashion Yarn Business).

“Preferred by Nature is pleased to be an independent auditing body for the CanopyStyle initiative and in particular making it possible to meet the growing demand for CanopyStyle Audits throughout Asia,” stated Jon Jickling, Director of Solutions at Preferred by Nature. “Century Rayon is committed to this third-party assessment of their raw material sourcing and we look forward to the final site visit in 2021.”

Key findings of the audit include:

1. The audit shows the company has adopted a wood sourcing policy, has communicated for yarn manufacturing, and has created internal capacity responsible for policy implementation.
2. Century Rayon has started to implement an action plan to increase the use of cellulosic fibre made from alternative fibre sources, and is working to bring products containing these fibres to commercial scale in 2021.
3. Century Rayon’s fibre supply chain cannot yet be fully confirmed at low risk of sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests and other controversial sources, due to an additional audit being required of one supplier that is located near an important area for biodiversity.

Moving forward, Canopy recommends that Grasim Industries Limited (Unit: Century Rayon):

• Work with Preferred by Nature to determine risk for the remaining supplier where risk levels have not yet been confirmed;
• Adopt ambitious public targets and timelines for increasing the use of Next Generation alternative fibres in a commercially competitive way;
• Establish internal systems to monitor policy implementation in addition to FSC-certification and other certification systems; and
• Work with Canopy to support conservation solutions for key Ancient and Endangered Forests.

 

The full audit report can be found at:

https://preferredbynature.org/certification/canopystyle

Source

https://canopyplanet.org/century-rayon-completes-and-publishes-its-first-canopystyle-audit/