Textiles From the Recycling Bin

摘要

Manufacturers are increasingly looking for ways to fulfill the circular production mantra of Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. The holy grail is total circularity through re-purposing post-consumer waste - and there's plenty of it. The average US consumer tosses out 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles each year, and the EPA estimates textile waste occupies nearly 5% of landfill space. The Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC) and Textile Exchange are working together on the issue, according to SFC executive director Susan Inglis. "It's a hot topic. Companies are asking how they can recycle more and how they can reduce packaging waste. We help them find resources in their manufacturing community." While there are a few nascent efforts in making textiles from post-consumer waste, the supply chain for raw materials of that type ranges from thin to barely existent, depending on the production region. In addition, efforts to create an easy glide path consumers can use to hand over their used textiles for recycling thus far appear to be limited to a few specific apparel brands and organic bedding brand Coyuchi, which last year set up a subscription service that allows members to return their used linens upon receipt of new merchandise. At present, most home textiles manufacturers are doing more with pre-consumer waste from their own production processes as well as leftover fibers from the spinning process. Often, these recycled fibers need to be blended with other fibers to improve strength, and recycled poly and cellulosic fibers are playing a major role here. Key brands include Tencel Refibra and Repreve along with Applied DNA Sciences' CertainT tracing technology for recycled PET. A few major manufacturers have developed their own proprietary trace and track protocols. Recycled poly fibers also address growing consumer awareness about microplastic pollution, a subject that wasn't even on the home textiles industry's radar a year ago. And manufacturers are looking outside of the industry for other types of waste that can be repurposed into fibers.