EU considers fibre-to-fibre recycling of household waste
A three-year investigation into the feasibility of implementing fibre-to-fibre recycling systems to deal with European household textile waste has the backing of 12 industry-leading enterprises including adidas, BASF and Infinited Fiber Company, on top of financial backing from the European Union (EU).
The newly announced initiative, named the T-Rex Project in a nod to “textile recycling excellence”, will look to build upon earlier research such as the recently concluded Sorting for Circularity Europe study, which found that just under three-quarters of low-value, post-consumer textile waste in six European countries could be suitable for fibre-to-fibre recycling.
Challenges already anticipated at this stage range from a lack of transnational uniformity in collecting and sorting to inaccurate labelling when it comes to fabric composition claims, irregular material quality and a lack of reliable data across the textile value chain. Ultimately, the aim is to demonstrate sustainable and economically feasible business models most appropriate to EU states by identifying the infrastructure, technologies and policy that could best facilitate – and scale up – “circular” value chains, a statement said.
The full recycling process for polyester, polyamide 6 and cellulosic materials from post-consumer waste through to new garments will be validated, with life-cycle assessments undertaken for each process.
Consortium members Veolia, CuRe, Linz Textil, TWD Fibres, FAU, Aalto University, Fashion for Good, Quantis and Arapaha round out the alliance.
