Material recycling of textiles Challenges and Opportunities. Lisa Schwarz Bour Textile Recycling Area Manager,

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1 Material recycling of textiles Challenges and Opportunities Lisa Schwarz Bour Textile Recycling Area Manager, 1

2 Why is material recycling important? In Sweden, 208 tonnes of textiles end up in the the household waste every day 65.8 tonnes/day are handed in for reuse A normal sorting facility (Bremerhaven, Boer Group) handles 50 tonnes of textiles per day Taking care of our used textiles for reuse and recycling is a very important issue for resource efficiency and the circular economy Suggested goals, Swedish EPA : o Reduce textiles in household waste by 65% (2025 vs 2015) o 90% of collected textile prepared for reuse and recycling (2025 vs 2015) 2

3 Textile materials and the textile value chain 3

4 Sorting trials at Wargön Innovation Swerea Test bed 850 kg Large fraction variety Raw material for test bed projects 220 kg Cotton 70 kg Polycotton 40 kg PES 50 kg Wool/mix Others Single fibre Material blend Re:newcell 170 kg 100% cotton (labels) 5-8% PES found when processing

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6 Recycling technologies 6

7 Cellulose spinning Solution spinning of various cellulosic materials (e.g. wood pulp, cotton, recycled textiles) Solution spinning of cellulose from a wide range of solvents Several flexible spinning lines; bench, pilot and demo scale equipment Air-gap, traditional wet spinning and solution blown Swerea IVF is collaborating with some of the world s largest textile retailers and pulp producers to develop new processes for textile fiber production. 7

8 Demo scale spinning

9 Chemical recycling of polyester PET monomer Depol EG Pigment

10 Polycotton recycling process at Swerea IVF Polyester loop Polyester monomers polymerization Virgin polyester Cotton/polyester blend Chemical separation Regenerated cellulose yarn Cotton fraction reuse Cotton loop Mechanical recycling into cotton spun yarn

11 Polycotton recycling a b Before depolymerization After depolymerization, PES fraction removed

12 Testbed Textile Recycling The testbed is built around pilot projects, each focussing on different areas of application for recycled textile Textile as a resource, not a waste problem Possibility to look at specific solutions for small volumes Plastic Aim: New products and materials containing recycled textile Control of environmental impact and economy Cooperation between industries => Open-loop recycling. Composite Textile for material recycling Textile More than 37 partners, e.g. ICA, Volvo Cars, Stadium, AB Ludvig Svensson, Ellos, Indiska, Emmaus Björkå, Human Bridge och Dupont, Sporda Nonwoven, JABA, Ultramare Non-woven 12

13 RFID FashionTech RFID technology for traceability and effective sorting at end-of-life Focus: In retail, complex textile materials are handled. To enable more efficient traceability and transparency and significantly improve the handling of textile materials at end-of-life, innovative solutions are required, primarily regarding sorting, for increase the possibility for high value textile recycling. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a technology quite frequently used today. An RFID tag can carry a large amount of data and is read by being close to a reader, which means it can be placed in the middle of a piece of clothing without affecting the reading quality. An RFID system is adaptive, and enables sorting of textiles based on specified parameters. This system would allow sorting out textile on the basis of certain unwanted chemicals, fiber content or certain dyeing systems, or just simple parameters such as size and colour all depending on which information is relevant at a particular point in the value chain. A system based on RFID technology would be able to sort out a large number of fractions quickly, efficiently and with low error margin, thereby giving access to large, specific volumes of textile aimed reuse or different recycling processes. The technology also allows for new solutions in logistics and enables effective inventory control. Using standardized solutions is key The project is financed by Vinnova and initiated and led by Swerea IVF. Partners: Learningwell West AB, RI.SE/Acreo, Filippa K, Peak Performance and TEKO

14 To reach a resource efficient system we need to.. Enable specific sorting of collected textile Scale-up and optimize recycling technologies, mechanical and chemical Increase knowedge about, and control,chemicals Traceability Labelling/certification of recycled materials Replace virgin raw materials with recycled materials 14

15 15 Scientific Work for Industrial Use