Textile recycling is seeing a significant uptick as the textile and fashion industry is accelerating its efforts towards a circular business model. At the same time, current recycling solutions (physical or chemical solutions) also consume significant energy in the form of heat and/or power.
Thus, there are significant energy-saving opportunities present in the recycling part of the textile and apparel industry value chain.
How does it work?Textile recycling processes need significant energy for their operations. As the scale of recycling increases in the coming years, so will the energy used for the same. Making these more energy efficient will hence be desired. |
Sustainability benefitsEnvironmental sustainability - Lower energy consumption for recycling decreases the carbon footprint of the process |
Highlights/USPEnergy efficient textile recycling processes could also provide monetary benefits owing to the decrease in the energy cost of recycling. |
Stage of commercializationEarly stage |
Types of professionals who can improve the solutionWaste management professionals, Digital professionals working on IoT, Textile materials professionals, Mechanical engineers, Chemical engineers, Bio-tech engineers
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Specifically relevant to any geography?Nil
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Decarbonization PotentialLow-moderate
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Value ChainProduct end of life , |
For natural textiles, incoming items get sorted by color and material. NIR technology can be used to identify garments made of pure cotton, polyester, acrylic, wool, polyamide, silk and man-made cellulosic (viscose, modal and lyocell) fibres as well as cotton/polyester blends.
This study aims to quantify the energy usage and global warming potential of different textile recycling techniques in order to evaluate the environmental benefits of the different options. An LCA with the restricted scope is applied for quantifying the carbon footprint and energy use of suggested textile recycling techniques and comparing the results with incineration as the base case.