TEXTILES.ORG
A Finnish research project called Telavalue concluded that recycling could bring parts of the textile production chain back to Europe as big business.
“In Europe alone, around 10 billion kilograms [11 million U.S. tons] of textile waste are discarded annually. Textile fiber’s price per kilogram ranges between 2 and 3 euros [$2.36–$3.54], so this field offers enormous business potential,” says Ali Harlin, research professor at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
It’s an opportunity for European countries to work together on establishing the continent’s recycling ecosystem, but it will take regulations such as the Waste Framework Directive being in place before textile recycling rates jump significantly, he says.
“Europe could see the rise of five to 10 chemical recycling plants,” Harlin says. “To feed one chemical plant with textile raw material, we need approximately 10 mechanical fiber plants.”
The best first option for a textile’s recycling is mechanical recycling, according to VTT’s principal scientist Pirjo Heikkilä; that reserves chemical recycling for pure polyester and lower-quality or heavily worn materials. In addition to being remade into textile products, recycled fibers can improve concrete and asphalt products, Harlin says.
Low-quality and mixed-composition textiles are difficult to recycle profitably, but Eetta Saarimäki, senior scientist at VTT, says thermomechanical recycling can turn these materials into plastics and composites.
In the Telavalue project, textile recycling solutions were assessed in terms of the value, costs and environmental impacts of processing.
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