The European Parliament wants new rules on textile waste to come into force by 2028, and put the brakes on so-called “fast fashion,” a term that refers to clothing businesses that move quickly but have a bad impact on the environment. In short, the waste produced in the bloc will have to be easier to reuse, repair and recycle.
However, making this happen is not easy. One of the obstacles is the process of sorting textile waste, which is an important element of recycling, which is often complicated and time consuming and therefore requires large costs.
A company in Sweden provides the answer. The company called Sysaf built the world’s first large-scale recycling facility that automatically sorts textile waste, called SIPTEX (Swedish innovation platform for textile sorting).
Anna Vilén, head of Sysav’s communications team, boasts of the facility.
“We manage so much and very mixed textile waste. Here we can sort based on fiber, making the recycling process easier. The process is fast and accurate, and occurs automatically.”
This high-tech facility on the outskirts of the southern Swedish city of Malmo can sort up to 4.5 tonnes of textile waste per hour using infrared light.
The installed sensors can then identify the type of fiber in the waste and sort it automatically using compressed air.
“This machine can tell us exactly what the fiber composition is. So, what we have in the end are piles of fabric of a certain purity. For example, 95 percent cotton, which can be chemically recycled in the next step,” said Ville.
Is it true that what SIPTEX is doing can deal with textile waste? Many critics doubt it, including Else Skjold, a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He said that what the facility was doing did not fully address textile waste. He suggested that what the textile industry should do is stop producing and selling cheap materials widely.
“There is an idea that recycling textile waste is the same as a circular economy. In reality, a circular economy demands high-quality textiles, which can be recycled over and over again for very long periods of time. “They didn’t do this and until now it hasn’t happened,” he explained.
Around 5.8 million tons of textiles are thrown away in the European Union every year, or the equivalent of 11 kilograms per person, while textile consumption will increase by almost two-thirds by 2030. (ab/uh)