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Going Circular / OnceMore Interview

Pulp Non-Fiction: At Sweden’s Södra Recycling’s a Yesterday OnceMore Story

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.

By

8 December 2023

 4 minutes
Long Story, Cut Short
  • The OnceMore pulp from Södra, which was jointly developed further by Södra and Lenzing, is used, among other things, as a raw material for the production of Lenzing fibres with Refibra technology.
  • Sodra is at a level of 2,000 tonnes of textile waste per year and plans are afoot to scale up to 50,000 tonnes in a few years’ time.
  • Södra is Sweden's largest forest owners association and an international forest industry group where operations are based on the processing of members forest raw material.
It takes 250 gm of dissolving pulp to produce one t-shirt.
The numbers It takes 250 gm of dissolving pulp to produce one t-shirt. Södra

Last month, Swedish pulp producer Södra along with Austrian fibre producer Lenzing received the ITMF Award 2023 in the category “International Cooperation” for their joint achievements in textile recycling and circular economy.

The OnceMore pulp from Södra, which was jointly developed further by Södra and Lenzing, is used, among other things, as a raw material for the production of Lenzing fibres with Refibra technology. The OnceMore process makes it possible to process and recycle a blend of cotton and polyester. The wood in the pulp comes directly from sustainably-managed forests of Södra members. 

Södra is Sweden's largest forest owners association and an international forest industry group where operations are based on the processing of members forest raw material. Södra represents 52,000 forest owners—families who own estates in southern Sweden. For every tree harvested, Södra plants three new ones.

texfash.com: Your website says: OnceMore is the world’s first large-scale process for recycling blended fabrics, and it’s the forest that makes it all possible. Could you please explain this for the ordinary person?
Åsa Degerman: We can process both cotton and polyester textile waste. We separate out the polyester from the cotton and then recycle the cotton. We then mix the cotton pulp with wood pulp and then it becomes dissolving pulp (textile pulp) which is the feedstock for viscose and lyocell fiber. Our finished product is dissolving pulp.

Rather than adding to landfill, "we collaborate with valued partners who provide us with blended-fiber textile waste."  So, how does this part of the supply chain work? How much textile waste do you require every year?
Åsa Degerman: We are now at a level of 2,000 tonnes of textile waste per year and are planning to scale up to 50,000 tonnes in a few years’ time. We work with partners such as sorters and industrial laundries to close the loop for end-of-life textiles. That could be bed linen from hotels, hospitals or household waste.

How many times can something be recycled? Especially given that your dissolving pulp is a mix of both renewable wood and textile waste?
Åsa Degerman: It is difficult to answer that question but we know that cotton can be recycled a number of times. And we can process viscose in our process but very little is recycled.

How do the numbers work? How much dissolving pulp is required to produce X quantity of viscose or lyocell?
Åsa Degerman: In general, we say that it takes 250 gm of dissolving pulp to produce one t-shirt.

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The Mill

OnceMore is produced at a mill in Mörrum in southern Sweden. The mill transforms post-consumer textile waste enriched with sustainably managed wood into virgin-quality pulp on an industrial scale. The wood is FSC and/or PEFC-certified and the textile is RCS certified. OnceMore provides drop-in products that are easy-to-implement in existing production of Södra partners.

The Pulp

The OnceMore pulp and the product Södra delivers is a high alpha cellulose pulp for textile applications. The product contains 20% recycled textile and 80% renewable wood. The result is a high-quality dissolving pulp that is used by the textiles industry to produce viscose and lyocell.

Sodra bases its harvest rates on the recommendations issued by the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. To increase conservation considerations, all harvesting operations are reviewed and rated using a Green Balance Sheet.
Green Balance Sheet Sodra bases its harvest rates on the recommendations issued by the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. To increase conservation considerations, all harvesting operations are reviewed and rated using a Green Balance Sheet. Södra

“We are the first and only supplier to transform post-consumer textile waste enriched with sustainably managed wood into virgin-quality pulp on an industrial scale.” How scalable is this model in other geographies?
Åsa Degerman: It is scalable if you have the same set up as we have in Mörrum, where you also process wood.

Again: “OnceMore provides drop-in products that are easy-to-implement in the existing production of our partners.” Could you please elaborate on this?
Åsa Degerman: The customer who buys our OnceMore dissolving pulp should not feel the difference from our ordinary dissolving pulp without recycled content. Therefore, a drop-in product with the same high-quality features.

Which companies do you supply the OnceMore pulp to? What is the current output, and how much do you plan to ramp up production, say, in the next 5–10 years>
Åsa Degerman: We work with the main fibre producers in the world, and we currently have a capacity of 6,000 tonnes dissolving pulp. In a few years’ time, we aim for 60,000 tonnes of dissolving pulp with 50% recycled content from textile waste. Today, we have 20% recycled content.

Could you please elaborate on how the "renewable wood" concept works on the ground? How much wood do you require every year, and how fast are the areas under birch able to regenerate? Birch trees are said to be relatively fast growers.
Åsa Degerman: OnceMore is a resource-efficient way of producing since we take waste as a resource (textile waste). How fast birch regenerate depends on the weather conditions, etc, but on an average that would be 40+ years. Then, pine trees take a bit longer. Forests are a resource that should be used, but not overused, which is why we have to manage and harvest our forests sustainably. We base our harvest rates on the recommendations issued by the Swedish Forest Agency and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. To increase conservation considerations, all harvesting operations are reviewed and rated using a Green Balance Sheet.

Åsa Degerman
Åsa Degerman
Project Leader, OnceMore
Södra

We are now at a level of 2,000 tonnes of textile waste per year and are planning to scale up to 50,000 tonnes in a few years’ time. We work with partners such as sorters and industrial laundries to close the loop for end-of-life textiles. That could be bed linen from hotels, hospitals or household waste.

OnceMore is produced at a mill in Mörrum in southern Sweden.
Aerial View OnceMore is produced at a mill in Mörrum in southern Sweden. Per Pixel Petersson / Södra
Subir Ghosh

Subir Ghosh

SUBIR GHOSH is a Kolkata-based independent journalist-writer-researcher who writes about environment, corruption, crony capitalism, conflict, wildlife, and cinema. He is the author of two books, and has co-authored two more with others. He writes, edits, reports and designs. He is also a professionally trained and qualified photographer.

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  • Dated posted: 8 December 2023
  • Last modified: 8 December 2023
 
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