Textiles feature
businesses. In 2022, it celebrated its 25th anniversary. Valpak is a Reconomy Group company. Reconomy Group is an innovative, tech-led provider of services to enable the circular economy, with the purpose of creating a truly sustainable world by conserving fi nite resources. Enabling businesses around the world to improve their ESG outcomes, the Reconomy Group delivers value through its unique set of integrated capabilities - Recycle, Comply and Re-use.
Report findings:
The importance of material specification
The prevalence of materials varied depending on textiles categories. The dominant material in the clothing category, for example, was cotton (57%), followed by polyester (24%). However, large variations were found between men, women’s and children’s clothing. The report also analysed footwear, accessories and household textiles.
60% of total material was found to be recyclable using a combination of chemical recycling and open-loop mechanical recycling, or 53% of total material using a combination of chemical recycling and closed-loop mechanical recycling (where feedstock is mono-fi bre for both types of mechanical recycling).
Open-loop mechanical recycling shreds textiles for use in applications such as insulation, fi lling of car seats, or industrial wipes. Fibre-to-fi bre, or closed- loop systems, recycle fi bre back into new fi bre. Chemical recycling is able to separate some blends, which mechanical fi bre-to-fi bre recycling typically does not. 53% of material was found to be open- loop mechanically recyclable. This is based on the assumption that only mono- fi bre material is open-loop mechanically recyclable, however. Extending the scope to include polycotton blends increased recyclability to 68%.
Fibre-to-fibre
A 2022 report by McKinsey estimates that currently less than 1% of textile waste is fi bre-to-fi bre recycled. While technologies are developing rapidly, issues around collection, sorting, and pre-processing capacity currently limit the potential for fi bre-to-fi bre.
The report shows that today, more than 15 kilograms of textile waste is generated per person in Europe. The largest source
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of textile waste is discarded clothes and home textiles from consumers— accounting for around 85 percent of the total waste. The generation of textile waste is problematic, as incineration and landfi lls—both inside and outside Europe—are its primary end destinations. This has several negative consequences for people and the environment. But a signifi cant transformation lies ahead that could create a large and sustainable new industry that turns waste into value. The report also shows that the textiles industry could become a self- standing, profi table industry with a €1.5 billion to €2.2 billion profi t pool by 2030. The textile recycling value chain could create a new, valuable raw material that enables more apparel production in Europe, which may lead to additional value creation above what is quantifi ed in this report. This could be done by improving collection rates of textiles and reduce overproduction and overconsumption.
The Valpak study showed that the sorting process will be essential in achieving high recycling rates. If we are to build a circular textiles economy, signifi cant investment in effective sorting infrastructure is needed. A total of 46% of material was closed-loop (fi bre-to-fi bre) mechanically
recyclable, while 28% of products were found to be chemically recyclable (if using a chemical recycling feedstock specifi cation of 95% or more cotton content).
Reuse
The overriding consensus from stakeholders was that textile products should adhere to the waste hierarchy – reuse should be prioritised over recycling, and reduction should take precedence over reuse.
Thirty-three per cent of the material analysed was considered to have a low likelihood of reusability; 42 per cent a medium level of reusability, and 26 per cent a high level of reusability. Bed sets and towels were among those items with a high level of recyclability and low likelihood of reusability, making them an ideal target material for recycling. Gough concluded: “This study is based on the best available data, and outputs should be considered as indicative, with the potential to expand the scope of the study to increase robustness. Valpak would like to invite any stakeholders who have any data or insight that could be valuable to a potential second phase of this project to approach Valpak to discuss collaboration.”
August 2023 |21 |
A 2022 report by McKinsey estimates that currently less than 1 per cent of textile waste is fibre-to-fibre recycled
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