European concern for future of textile recycling

Category: SUSTAINABILITY

Country: Belgium

Region: Europe

The parlous state of the used textile trade in Europe came under the spotlight at BIR’s first ‘circularity challenge’ conference.

By Robin Latchem 
24th September 24, 2024

Speaking to delegates in Brussels on 17 September, Mariska Boer, president of EuRIC Textiles said: ‘Our biggest challenge is finding a way to regain a competitive position on the global market for textile reuse. It’s only through that we can continue to build a resilient and vibrant industry here in Europe.’

Decline
Boer spoke of a continuing decline over the past 10-15 years in the quality of clothing put on the market by brands selling ‘cheap, ultra-fast fashion’. ‘If you get a lower quality in your sorting plant you can’t possibly sort a higher quality out.’

Other factors weighing on the reuse trade were the costs of labour, energy prices and the continuing war in Ukraine, she said. While proposed regulation would help in the longer term, such immediate issues were weighing heavily on the European markets.

‘We call for financial incentives to support those companies within Europe that make an impactful contribution to a sustainable and circular textile value chain,’ she insisted. ‘And we need to restrict the import of ‘throwaway’ fashion within the EU.’

Non-rewearables
Also at the conference, Cyndi Rhoades, co-founder of Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems and founder of Worn Again Technologies (GBR), spoke about a multi-stakeholder collaboration on a pilot facility for ‘non-rewearable textiles (NRTs).

She explained how NRTs will be fed into an automated textile sorting and pre-processing facility due to open in the UK by early 2026. The resulting material is then broken down by chemical recycling into purified polyester and cellulose to go into fibre spinning before becoming new textiles.

‘There was a perception, which lasted for many years, that chemical recycling was too expensive and too energy intensive,’ she said. ‘Today, innovations are getting large-scale investments and brand engagement. However, less than 1% of new textiles are made from existing textiles so there is a seriously long way to go but we are on the right track.’

Courtesy: Recyclinginternational.com