YARN-TO-YARN®: textiles going circular
The global fashion industry produces over 80 billion garments a year – an enormous use of resources. Currently, only one per cent of these items gets recycled or, to put it another way, becomes new clothing again. Some 7.5 million tonnes of textiles go to waste every year in Europe alone, making the textile industry anything but sustainable. Not least because many clothes today are made of mixed synthetic fibres, and the technology needed to recycle these materials has not been available.
Fighting fashion waste with enzymes
Until now, that is, as the YARN-TO-YARN® project team has succeeded in breaking down blended textiles into their individual components with the help of biological enzymes. This makes it possible to recover polyamide fabric from textile waste and then process it into yarn for new clothes.
A circular ecosystem for the textile industry
Backed by the Migros Pioneer Fund, the project is now entering the practical phase, the aim being to establish a pilot facility for enzyme production, test the process with partners from the fashion industry and bring the technology to industrial maturity. This should lead to initial marketable models that reveal the potential of enzyme recycling, triggering a rethink in the industry.
In addition to this, the YARN-TO-YARN® team is also involved in activities aimed at raising awareness and at bringing together the fashion industry, recycling industry and political stakeholders in order to create a framework for a functioning, circular ecosystem in the fashion industry over the medium term.
YARN-TO-YARN®
Find out more about this Migros community involvement initiative - perhaps it's just what you're looking for?
Photo/stage: YARN-TO-YARN®
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