Recycling

H&M Group has taken steps to scale textile-to-textile recycling. Textile as in polyester, promising a "lower impact on the planet.”

Swedish textile recycling pioneer Renewcell has decided to file for bankruptcy. The reason for the company going bust has nothing to do with either its product or facilities, but a global fashion  industry that is still unwilling to increase its uptake of recycled fibres.

The Accelerating Circularity Project (ACP) has begun work on ‘Building Circular Systems’ (BCS) that promise to enable the reduction of the textile industry’s GHG impacts and reduce the volume of textiles going to landfill and incineration. 

Textile-to-textile recycling of polyester as also complex clothing waste hitherto considered unsuitable for recycling could soon go mainstream.

In a move to provide speedy recycling solution for industry applications, the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited (HKRITA) and Seiko Epson Corporation have inked an agreement to develop an innovative fibre recycling solution.

There’s yet another alternative to genuine leather as pre-consumer recycled leather is fused with Lenzing’s Tencel lyocell fibres to create an all new nextgen material in a resource-saving, closed-loop production process.

Refashion, a producer responsibility organisation, has launched Industrial Challenge, a project that seeks to deploy innovative industrial solutions for recycling non-reusable used textiles and footwear in France and Europe.

The ever-growing textile industry has a few recycling options for waste fabrics to keep end-of-use clothing articles within the value chain. Experiments showcase a new technology that can separate fibres in mixed fabrics.

Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology have developed a tool that measures the amount of elastane present in a garment, paving the way for its segregation/removal from blended textiles, thus making a considerable number of textiles suitable for recycling.

OnceMore—the world’s first large-scale process for recycling blended fabrics—uses a proprietery process that combines post-consumer textile waste with renewable wood from responsibly managed forests to produce high-quality textile pulp. Åsa Degerman, Project Leader for OnceMore at forest industry group Södra talks recycling.