Typical viscose rayon is without doubt one of the least sustainable materials you should buy. It scores a Class E on the Made-By Environmental Benchmark for Fibres, the bottom potential ranking, overlaying human toxicity, ecotoxicity, greenhouse gasoline emissions, and power, land, and water use.
There are a number of interconnected causes for this.
Deforestation and Forest Sourcing
Rayon begins with bushes, and solely a fraction of every tree (primarily the cellulose) finally ends up as usable fiber, with the remainder discarded throughout pulping. Stories prior to now have discovered that roughly 30% of the world’s rayon has historically been sourced from ancient and endangered forests, contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss.
That is enhancing. In line with the newest Canopy Hot Button Report (2025), 70% of MMCF producers now maintain inexperienced or darkish inexperienced shirt rankings, which means they’ve demonstrated management in eliminating historical and endangered forests from their provide chains. The highest-scoring producers in 2025 are Lenzing (Austria) and Tangshan Sanyou (China), carefully adopted by Aditya Birla (India).
Nonetheless, Cover’s 2025 report notes that some producers proceed to supply from high-carbon forest areas, and capability expansions by poorly rated producers have barely diminished the share of worldwide provide coming from green-rated sources.
Chemical Air pollution
We coated the human well being impacts above however the environmental facet is simply as regarding. The viscose course of makes use of carbon disulfide at roughly 30-35% of the load of the cellulose being processed, and in typical amenities with out ample restoration methods, a good portion of that’s launched into the air and waterways. Sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid waste streams additionally require cautious administration to forestall water and soil contamination.
The Altering Markets Basis’s Roadmap towards responsible viscose manufacturing calls on all producers to align with EU Finest Obtainable Strategies (BAT) requirements, which set limits on chemical restoration charges, emissions, and wastewater therapy.
Among the largest producers (Aditya Birla, Lenzing, Sateri, Asia Pacific Rayon, and Tangshan Sanyou) have dedicated to assembly these requirements, however enforcement and verification stay ongoing challenges, notably in areas with weaker regulatory oversight.
Is Rayon Biodegradable?
Viscose rayon is biodegradable, and research has proven it breaks down sooner than cotton in soil as a result of its cellulose construction (cellulose II) has decrease crystallinity than cotton’s native cellulose I, which makes it extra accessible to soil microorganisms. In aerobic soil conditions, the half-life of rayon is approximately 22 days, compared to 40 days for cotton.
Nonetheless, biodegradable doesn’t imply clear. Commercially produced rayon has been dyed, handled, and completed with numerous artificial substances, so composting any cloth in your yard backyard (particularly should you develop meals) isn’t advisable except the garment carries an OEKO-TEX or GOTS certification confirming it’s freed from dangerous residues.
And if rayon results in a landfill, these anaerobic situations sluggish decomposition dramatically (identical to they do for meals waste), and the breakdown course of releases methane, a potent greenhouse gasoline.
Does Rayon Shed Microplastics?
Rayon doesn’t shed microplastics as a result of it isn’t product of plastic. It’s a cellulosic fiber. Nonetheless, rayon does shed microfibers throughout washing, and it sheds extra of them than polyester.
A 2019 study by Zambrano et al. revealed in Marine Air pollution Bulletin discovered that cellulose-based materials (cotton and rayon) launched extra microfibers throughout laundering (0.2 to 4 mg per gram of material) than polyester (0.1 to 1 mg per gram). It is because rayon’s low moist power makes it particularly liable to fiber breakage within the washer.
The crucial distinction, although, is what occurs to these fibers after they enter waterways. The identical examine discovered that cotton and rayon microfibers biodegraded in pure aquatic environments, whereas polyester microfibers continued for lengthy durations. So rayon sheds extra fibers, however these fibers break down slightly than accumulating in marine ecosystems the way in which plastic-based fibers do.
However rayon microfibers can nonetheless carry residual dye chemical substances and processing brokers into waterways earlier than they biodegrade, and the sheer quantity of cellulosic microfibers present in oceans (one examine discovered cellulosic fibers made up 79.5% of all microfibers sampled throughout six ocean basins) means the difficulty deserves extra analysis consideration.
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