According to many estimates, millions of tonnes of clothes are discarded every year, with only a tiny percentage escaping the fate of being buried in landfill, or worse - burned. But a couple of pioneering European companies have come up with new processes that could at last make cotton recyclable. By Jeremy Torr.
VÄXJÖ, Sweden. October, 2019. Around the world, more than a hundred million tonnes of textile fibres are produced each year, and only a fraction is ever recycled. One of the major obstacles to textile recycling is that most fabrics not single-fibre composition; that is they are almost always made from blended fibres of some sort or combination.
As a as result, “… only a negligible proportion of the global production of clothing and textiles is recycled today,” says Lars Idermark, president and CEO of Södra, the company that has invented a new recycling process. He says it has “the potential to mitigate climate change by reducing the amount of virgin fibres produced and preventing those already in existence from being burnt.” Good news indeed.
“This will revolutionise garment recycling” - Lars Idermark, Södra CEO. Courtesy Södra.
Södra’s silver bullet is at the heart of their new process – and it allows the industrial-scale separation of cotton and polyester fibres in most of today’s common polycotton blends, allowing them to be separated and reused.
The first pilot run was fuelled by Swedish laundry and textile service provider Berendsen which delivered test materials like sheets, towels, tablecloths and bathrobes sourced from hospitals and hotels after they had reached the end of their usable life.
“Governments are starting to demand it, and we all know it: textile products must become part of the circular bioeconomy,” says Sodra’s website. By using the new process, which is still a trade secret, the cotton part of the mix can be reuse the cotton fibres by mixing them with environmentally-friendly wood-derived textiles to make new, biodegradable materials.
Meanwhile, near Alicante in Spain, the Hilaturas Ferre company is offering RECOVER Denim to sustainable-savvy buyers as a state of the art natural blend of Upcycled Cotton from (pre- and post-consumer) denim garments and organic cotton.
It is also working on recycling PET drink bottles and other potential yarn feedstocks to turn into clothing suitable yarns. “We use textile waste as a raw material resource, diverting it from landfill and incineration,” says Alfredo Ferre, CEO of Hilaturas Ferre. “We become less dependent on virgin materials and we save water, energy, CO2 emissions and toxic chemicals.
Sodra’s researchers say they will soon be able to recycle viscose and lyocell in addition to polycotton fabrics, and that they are in the process of seeking out companies with ‘high sustainability ambitions’ to become partners in the project.
At present, Södra can only accept white textiles, but the team is working towards a workable production-based decolouring solution. They are also looking for ways to reuse the polyester element once the cotton has been separated. Also, Södra's pulp mill at Mörrum produced extra wood-pulp feedstock by adding 20 tonnes of used textiles to the normal mix.
RECOVER Denim mixes 50% of new fibres with recycled yarn. Courtesy Hilaturas Ferre.
“But due to the technological (demands of) our processes, we will be needing large volumes of textiles,” says Helena Claesson, Project Manager at Södra. Initial production of the recycled cotton fibres will commence at a low rate of 30 tonnes this year, but the long-term target is to add 25,000 tonnes per year, and as mentioned, not just of cotton either. The company is already looking to accept viscose and lyocell in addition to polycotton blends for recycling.
"Only a negligible proportion of the global production of clothing and textiles is recycled today,” says Idermark, “and virtually everything is sent to landfill or incineration. But (our) innovation and a willingness to help mitigate climate change can now influence the game at a global level,” he adds.
“A sweater can now become a sweater again. It’s a big day for us and an equally big day for the emerging circular bioeconomy.”