Accelerating circularity in textiles: lessons learned from a regional perspective

• Published in: Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing and Textiles pp. 279 - 288
• Main Authors: Mahy, Jan, Oelerich, Jens
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2024
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Extended Producer Responsibility; UAS; Manmade Cellulose Fibres; EU Consumer; UHMWPE; Fast Fashion; Recycling Technology; Technology Readiness Level; Towards A CE; Circular Business Models; Textile Recycling; CE; Circular Textile; Yarn Spinning; Weaving Mills; Tonnes; Saxion University; Copernicus; Chemical Recycling; Region Twente; Material Streams; Mechanical Recycling; EU Committee; PCR; Industry's Carbon Footprint
• ISBN: 9781032225173; 9781032225197; 103222519X; 1032225173
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003272878-28

In Chapter 22, Mahy and Oelerich highlight that a closed-loop "textile-to-textile" recycling is a prerequisite to meet the 2030 and beyond regulatory objectives in the transition to a circular economy. The regional utilization of textiles beyond their use-phase requires a systemic approach to a new, circular, value chain of textile collectors, sorters and subsequent mechanical and possibly chemical recycling before yarns and fabrics can be made into circular designed products. Close collaboration between such new value-chain partners is required to develop new, innovative technology (e.g. sorting), to implement circular business models, and to accelerate scale-up. An operational, regional and systemic and triple-helix (government, industry and academia) partnership in the Netherlands is presented in this chapter, highlighting strengths, risks and opportunities/threats. This partnership is founded in TexPlus, combining academic and applied research and education, municipal organizations and thriftshops, startups and established textile industry. This initiative was selected as "Best Practice" by the EU Committee of the Regions as a demonstration of the "Green Deal going Local" initiative. Some of the challenges and opportunities from a regional perspective will be illustrated in this chapter. The collaboration between similar but complementary regional initiatives in the Netherlands is coordinated through the "Dutch Circular Textile Valley" and discussed in Chapter 21. This chapter highlights that a closed-loop "textile-to-textile" recycling is a prerequisite to meet the 2030 and beyond regulatory objectives in the transition to a circular economy. Close collaboration between such new value-chain partners is required to develop new, innovative technology, to implement circular business models, and to accelerate scale-up. The chapter presents an operational, regional and systemic and triple-helix partnership in the Netherlands, highlighting strengths, risks and opportunities/threats. More recently, the reuse of textiles through secondhand clothing shops and online platforms as well as the installation of fibre processing of post-consumer recycled textile has resulted in a renewed interest in crafts and skills in the region. In a regional ecosystem, the material streams collected would preferably be in the proximity of further process steps such as sorting, recycled fibre production, yarn spinning and weaving.