The first industrial plant for automated sorting and recycling of textile waste in France has been officially inaugurated at Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, Amplepuis.
- The plant is the outcome of the partnership between textile recycling company Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, waste sorting specialist Pellenc ST and international technology group Andritz, a specialist in textile recycling machinery and processes.
- The plant was inaugurated on 30 November.
The context: This partnership is being described as a contribution to tackling the challenge of textile waste in the European Union. The EU's strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to ensure that by 2030 textile products are made to a great extent of recycled fibers and incineration and landfilling of textiles are minimised.
- Automated sorting was the last missing link needed to develop a complete ecosystem in France, where the fashion industry, social and solidarity economy actors, waste management companies and textile producers from different sectors are working together towards a textile circular economy.
The details: Capable of automatically sorting garments by composition and colour, the new line meets the needs of both post-consumer and post-industrial waste markets. The line also removes hard parts such as buttons and zippers to prepare the material for further processing in an Andritz tearing machine.
- The automated textile sorting line at Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is dedicated to industrial-scale production, customer trials and projects, and the R&D activities of the partners. It will process textile waste to produce recycled fibres for the spinning, nonwovens, and composites industries.
