Circular textiles, the textile chain becomes sustainable

Starting from the concept of circular economy, the European project CIRCULAR TEXTILES embraces the whole textile supply chain involving partners in a proactive way in order to favour the establishment of a system of industrial symbiosis among the districts. The project intends to act as a show case by studying an overall approach to the recycling of textile materials through representative pilot cases for the sector. Industrial and consumer production waste, such as used clothes, both of textile matrix and coupled with plastic substances, will be the object of study for the design of sustainable production systems and new manufacturing techniques, with the aim of getting as close as possible to a circular economy model. The project intends to act both in the design phase (eco-design) to prevent waste and promote recycling in the recovery, selection and recycling phase.

Objectives:

Analysing quantities and types of textile materials;

Study a sampling and testing methodology to sufficiently characterise the materials and assess the risk associated with material variability and the degree of uncertainty corresponding to the outcome of the tests;

Evaluate currently available sorting technologies;

To study and define a selection process for the material collected, including in relation to the material tests envisaged and the selection technologies currently available;

Process batches of material to be recycled and appropriately sorted in order to obtain new textile material (fibres, yarns, fabrics), suitable for the production of new products both for clothing and for other sectors/applications;

Evaluate the environmental, social and economic impacts resulting from the redesign, collection and recycling of the textile materials studied;

To produce guidelines, resulting from the project experience, on opportunities, technical aspects and methods for recycling textile materials, providing considerations and possible suggestions for public decision-makers for future policy choices.

CIRCULAR TEXTILES is a project co-financed by the resources made available by the Lombardy Region's POR FESR 2014-2020 (FASHIONTECH call).

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CIRCULAR TEXTILES – circular economy in fashion, for fashion and with fashion