A £2m Circular Textiles Fund has been launched by Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish government to help reduce the environmental impact of textiles by supporting Scottish businesses to become more circular.
This announcement came shortly after the Scottish Government launched two public consultations on proposals for a Circular Economy Bill and Route Map to 2025. The consultations form part of strategic plans to deliver Scotland’s zero waste and circular economy ambitions.
The announcement: The Chief Executive of Zero Waste Scotland, Iain Gulland, and Minister for the Circular Economy, Lorna Slater, on Friday launched the Circular Textiles Fund at Kalopsia Collective, in Dunfermline.
THE FUND: The Circular Textiles Fund focuses on the five key areas that will have maximum impact in helping Scotland reach net-zero:
- Reducing consumption - measures that encourage more responsible consumption of textiles, such as clothing and textile rental, reuse, and repair.
- Design for circularity - supporting organisations to improve how clothing and soft furnishings are designed to maximise the end-of-life potential. This could include specifying preferred materials, reducing the use of mix materials, reducing chemicals used that can affect the ability to reuse and recycle products, material labelling, and adjustability for resizing.
- Supply chain management and specification - supporting organisations who procure textiles, be it uniform, bedding including mattresses, soft furnishings to specify materials and designs that can be easily reused, repaired and have a reduced impact. This could include closed loop pilots for low-impact materials for bedding (including second-life fabrics), uniforms that can be altered for reuse, and diversion from incineration of uniforms by smart design.
- Clothing care and chemical reclaim and management - Supporting organisations to develop chemical reclaim processes and prevent plastic shedding. This could include overcoming the challenges of flame retardant chemicals and banned substances, and implementation of new inert methods or systems for end-of-life processing.
- End of life (reprocessing) - Supporting organisations to maximise the potential of waste textiles. This could include material sorting technologies to better sort and grade for reuse, creation of new products from waste, tonnage being moved up the waste hierarchy, and reprocessing of problem materials.
THE PROJECTS: The Circular Textiles Fund will support innovative projects that have what it takes to be part of Scotland's circular economy, in which resources are valued and made to last. Applications to the fund can be from individual businesses or represent a collaboration between businesses to achieve the objectives below.
Potential business models include those that:
- Reduce demand for new textiles, such as clothing and textile rental, reuse, and repair services;
- Employ sustainable manufacturing processes;
- Reduce in-life environmental impacts, such as mitigating the pollution from washing textiles and making them easier to reuse and repair;
- Maximise the amount of textile waste that is captured and recycled.
WHAT THEY SAID:
As a nation, we need to rethink the way we make, buy, and use products and take action to consume more responsibly. Businesses have a key role to play in facilitating that shift, helping customers make more sustainable purchasing decisions while also contributing to a greener economy.
“With textiles responsible for such a significant chunk of the carbon footprint of Scotland’s household waste it’s vital that we move away from a throwaway approach to products and materials and make things last instead. The Circular Textiles Fund is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to be part of the solution.
— Iain Gulland
Chief Executive
Zero Waste Scotland
From fashion to furniture, there are huge opportunities for businesses with creative ideas to help address that problem. That's why we are creating the £2million Circular Textiles Fund, which will help businesses in Scotland turn their proposals into reality.
Alongside our Circular Economy Bill, this will help grow the number of sustainable businesses in Scotland and help prevent textiles from ending up in landfill or incineration.
— Lorna Slater
Circular Economy Minister
Government of Scotland
