‘Bold approach’ for large-scale textile recycling project
The Amsterdam-based hub Fashion for Good has, with its partners, has launched a chemical recycling project focusing on cellulosic fibres.
Full Circle Textiles Project: Scaling Innovations in Cellulosic Recycling aims to validate and scale promising technologies in chemical recycling and companies including Laudes Foundation (formerly C&A Foundation), Birla Cellulose, Kering, PVH Corp and Target have joined the project.
Man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCF) such as viscose/rayon, lyocell, modal and cupro, are most commonly derived from wood and have the third largest share in global fibre production after polyester and cotton. Production of MMFCs has doubled in the last 30 years, says Fashion for Good.
Katrin Ley, managing director of Fashion for Good, said: “A bold approach is needed to identify and scale innovations that drive sustainable change in the fashion industry. This multi-stakeholder consortium, a first-of-its-kind, addresses the most important barriers to scaling innovation, setting the precedent for all industry players with ambitions for disruptive innovation to follow.”
Over an 18-month period, project partners will collaborate with Evrnu, Infinited Fiber Company, Phoenxt, Renewcell and Tyton BioSciences to validate the potential of their technologies. The recycled content produced by four of these innovators will be converted at Birla Cellulose’s pilot plants to produce cellulosic fibres. From there, fibres will move through the project partners' supply chains to be manufactured into garments.
Dilip Gaur, business director at Birla Cellulose, added: “The need of the hour is to co-create sustainable solutions for the fashion industry that can be scaled rapidly and economically.”
Photo: The used cotton regenerating process in development at Infinited Fiber Company, in Finland, produces carbamate cellulose that is said to have a high dye uptake without requiring toxic chemistry.
Credit: Infinited Fiber Company
