Recycling Technologies for Textile Waste

Circ® France is no longer an idea under discussion—it’s a confirmed, government-supported project, backed by industrial partners and aimed squarely at solving one of fashion’s biggest structural challenges: blended textile waste. For years, recycling polycotton has been dismissed as too complex or commercially infeasible to scale. Circ® France changes that. The facility will use hydrothermal processing to separate and recover both polyester and cotton from polycotton blends—an approach that allows both fractions to re-enter the supply chain as high-quality inputs. This is industrial infrastructure, tied to national policy objectives and backed by partners who know how to build and operate large-scale chemical processing plants. It provides a model for what scaling circularity can look like when technology, regulation, and industrial capability align. The implications are broad. Brands will need to rethink their procurement and feedstock planning. Policymakers will need to shift from incentivizing innovation to supporting deployment. And the supply chain—from fiber to garment—will need to adjust to accommodate recycled inputs as a normal part of business, not a niche product line. What was once seen as aspirational is now operational. That changes the starting point for every conversation on circularity from here on out. https://lnkd.in/eT6awiA8

“The researchers, in partnership with sustainable chemicals company Avantium, used super-concentrated hydrochloric acid on polycotton waste. The acid breaks down the cotton into a glucose solution, and the polyester remains, providing the ability to fully recycle both components in subsequent steps. This sidesteps a major issue with textile recycling, as the fibers are difficult to disentangle, ScienceDirect noted in highlights about a different study. It also helps reduce the waste that is burying developing nations; Americans discard 21 billion pounds of clothes every year.” 🔗 https://lnkd.in/emg5UTFW The Cool Down Phys.org Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Avantium Groenendijk Bedrijfskleding MODINT CuRe Technology - Polyester Rejuvenation #environmentalcontent #advancingresilience #environmentaleducation 

This is how millions of jeans get recycled into new pairs. Every year, over a billion pairs of jeans are produced worldwide. Most of these eventually end up in landfills, contributing to environmental waste. However, one company in Pakistan is changing that. Pakistan imports more used clothing than any other country, creating a massive opportunity for textile recycling. This company has developed a method to recycle old denim, turning discarded jeans into new ones. The process saves large amounts of water and energy compared to producing new fabric. Old denim is shredded, treated, and re-spun into yarn. That yarn is then woven into new fabric, ready for another life as a pair of jeans. This innovative approach helps reduce textile waste and lowers the environmental impact of fashion. 🎥:World Wide Waste and Insider Tech

This startup turns old clothes into eco-friendly bricks 🧱 (they've recycled 12 tons of waste already) In 2017, architecture student Clarisse Merlet had a revolutionary idea that's transforming two waste-heavy industries. 👕 The Challenge: ↳ Europe produces almost 7 million tons of textile waste annually ↳ Less than 32% of textiles are recycled in France 🧶 The Innovation: ↳ FabBRICK: Decorative insulating bricks each made from 2-3 old t-shirts ↳ Uses a proprietary eco-friendly glue to bind shredded textiles 🎯 How It Works: 1) Clothing waste is collected, sorted by color and shredded into fine fibers 2) Mixed with ecological glue developed & compressed into molds 4) Air-dried for 10-15 days before use 5) Transformed into walls, furniture & decorative elements 🧱 The Impact: ↳ Designed over 40,000 bricks since 2018, recycling 12 tons of textile waste ↳ Excellent thermal and acoustic insulation properties From fashion industry waste… ...to sustainable building materials. 📥 Like this post? Follow me for more insights on NatureTech and Nature Finance

Over 1 billion pairs of jeans are made yearly, many ending up in landfills. Artistic Fabric Mills (AFM) in Pakistan is tackling this with innovative cotton recycling. They are turning old cotton into new jeans.. Here is how they do it.. ➤ In Karachi, workers sort 25 tons of used clothes daily, mostly from donations. ➤ Lower-grade clothes are shredded for insulation, while AFM buys used jeans to repurpose. ➤ Jeans with 98% cotton are cut and processed. Three old jeans make one new pair. ➤ Fibers are mixed with new cotton for strength, using up to 30% recycled material. ➤ AFM uses recycled indigo dye to cut water waste. Their tech makes production eco-friendly. ➤ The fabric is made into jeans with advanced software & lasers, avoiding harmful chemicals. AFM purifies around 300,000 gallons of wastewater daily, reusing up to 70% in its recycling process. With only 1% of clothes recycled into new garments, AFM is leading the charge. Consume less but choose better quality to reduce waste. Let’s support sustainable fashion. #sustainablefashion #recycling #ecofriendly #circularfashion #greentech #wastemanagement 

Imagine a world where our old clothes help build our homes. That's the vision of one pioneering company that's transforming discarded textiles into viable building materials. Here’s a look at their innovative process and its profound implications for sustainability in construction. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬: >> Shredding: The journey begins by breaking down old clothes into small pieces, ensuring every fiber is utilized. >> Mixing: These pieces are then combined with a specially developed binder that ensures durability and strength for building purposes. >> Molding: Finally, the mixture is pressed into molds, forming tiles or bricks ready for construction use. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: >> Eco-Friendly Impact: This method drastically cuts down textile waste, channeling tons of fabric away from landfills, reducing both the fashion and construction sectors' environmental impacts. >> Improved Building Efficiency: Structures built with these materials benefit from insulation, which translates to energy savings and a smaller carbon footprint. >> Aesthetic Innovation: Beyond their practicality, these materials offer a unique aesthetic appeal, adding a contemporary flair to buildings. This approach is about integrating the principles of a circular economy into construction. By reimagining waste as a resource, this company is not only addressing environmental issues but also pioneering new possibilities for building materials. 🌿 Such innovations highlight the potential for industries to adopt circular economic models, enhancing sustainability across sectors. 💬 What other waste materials could be transformed into valuable resources? How can different industries leverage similar innovations to contribute to a more sustainable future? #innovation #technology #future #management #startups

In Europe alone, around seven million tons of textile waste is generated each year. Approximately 35% of this waste is collected separately and less than 1% recycled into new material. At Avery Dennison, we're on a journey to achieve global textile circularity with our partners at @TEXAID. We're exploring how technology can enable traceability of garments through the sorting and recycling process, seeking to accelerate the pace of innovation more than ever before to solve this problem. I was pleased to read about an exciting development from the chemists and engineers at the University of Delaware. Using a chemical to break up large chains of molecules found in polyester and microwave energy to speed things up, they were able to convert 90% of the polyester in 100% polyester and 50/50 polyester-cotton blend fabrics into a molecule that can be recycled. The cotton stayed intact, so in the blended fabrics it was possible to break down polyester and recover cotton. The implications of this innovation are significant for the garment industry. Exciting times - watch this space!  #Innovation #TextileWaste #Recycling