Fibers from textiles will save us.
Let me also explain. As the Guardian reports, Before and after the catwalk, the fashion industry is inherently ugly.
Textiles account for 10% of global carbon emissions. The industry is the world’s second-biggest industrial polluter, behind oil. In Australia, an estimated 3m tonnes of textiles goes into landfill each year.
The ability to recycle fibers from textiles to fabric amao. For industry veterans Adrian Jones and Graham Ross, a “holy grail … for the industry and the planet”. One that will help close the loop between resource-intensive fabric production and fast-growing piles of textile waste.
Jones and Ross have pioneered and trademarked – with input from the CSIRO and the Queensland University of Technology – a small-scale and environmentally friendly process that takes blended fabrics and reduces them to their raw components.
The immediate benefit of fabric recycling is to divert increasing amounts of waste from landfill. Trends such as fast fashion and minimalismhave the unintended consequences of increasing fabric waste. In Australia, 75% of people throw textiles away each year, a 2017 YouGov survey found; 30% tossed out more than 10 garments.
Trash textiles are a valuable resource that should not and must not be left untapped. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Aalto University are participating in an EU project called Trash-2-Cash, which pools together designers, researchers, materials suppliers and textile producers from all over Europe.
More than three million tonnes of textiles are thrown away in the EU every year. This is a growing problem, which the EU’s Trash-2-Cash project aims to solve by recycling, and developing high-performance fibers. The Trash-2-Cash project team, which includes experts from all levels of the production chain, is looking for techniques that can be used to spin, knit, sew or design innovative high-quality products from used textile fibers.
“Turning unwanted textiles into raw materials for new textiles using ecological technologies provides an opportunity for revolutionising European textile manufacturing and trade”, says VTT’s Research Professor Ali Harlin.
In addition, the joint project of VTT and Aalto University in the Trash-2-Cash programme. It also aims at developing ecological and efficient techniques. The project also involves developing techniques for pre-processing. Finally and washing waste textiles, separating fibers, and fiberisation.
Moreover, the role of VTT is to focus on breaking down the fibers in waste textiles. Finally and making them suitable for the cellulose carbamate process. The Ioncell cellulose fiber manufacturing process will also be carried out at the Aalto University. The Ioncell-F process has also proved to be especially suitable. Moreover for the recycling of cellulose waste. It is a very robust and stable process. One which also allows the manufacture of textile fibers res. Yet it’s also of the highest quality even from low quality wastes. Further, it allows also to separate the cellulose fraction from blends. That’s also with polyester. All the while preserving the macromolecular structure of polyester for further use.
Furthermore, Designers consequently play an important role in the project. One to ensure the quality, performance and appearance moreover of the new products. All so they appeal to consumers. The aim is to find new markets and uses for recycled textile fibres. Demo products will be manufactured together. Combined with commercial partners all consequently throughout the project.
In conclusion, The Trash-2-Cash project is part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme. Also it ran from 2015 until 2018. The total budget was EUR 8.9 million. All of which EU funding accounts for EUR 7.9 million. The project team includes 18 organizations from 10 EU countries. The project is coordinated by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden.
VTTS’ and Aalto University’s Trash-2-Cash project in brief:
– VTT pre-processes and washes waste textiles and studies techniques to separate cotton and polyester
– Aalto University fibbers cotton using Ioncell technology
– VTT fibbers cotton using carbamate technology
– Project timescale: June 2015 – December 2018
– Timescale: started in June 2015 and ends in December 2018
– The project won the H&M Foundation Global Change Award in February 2016
– Trash-2-Cash:http://trash2cashproject.eu/
