T-REX Project launches a circular system to accelerate textile recycling
The EU is funding the T-REX initiative to develop a systematic approach to reducing household textile waste.
A group of 12 major players from across the recycling value chain have come together, along with research institutes, to launch T-REX, a European Union (EU) funded project to create a circular system for post-consumer textile waste. The T-REX Project (Textile Recycling Excellence) will work to create a cohesive blueprint for closed-loop sorting and recycling of household textile waste. This will result in transforming used textiles into desired feedstock for new business models that can be adopted at scale and will contribute towards building a solution to one of fashion's biggest sustainability challenges.
The project aims to understand and identify the needed infrastructure and technology to encourage the growth of circular value chains to recycle textiles. Those involved will develop a systematic approach to address resource preservation and reduction of the environmental footprint of the fashion industry.
It currently stands that an estimated 2% of post-consumer textiles in Europe are diverted to fibre-to-fibre recycling. Creating a system for textile waste currently faces many challenges, such as a lack of standards for collecting and sorting textile waste across countries. The T-REX project will confront these challenges and devise a plan to scale fibre-to-fibre recycling.
Over the next three years, the has set itself a task to collect and sort household textile waste and demonstrate the full recycling process of polyester, polyamide 6, and cellulosic materials from textile waste into new garments.
Veolia, a company renowned for its ecological transformations, will lead the post-consumer textile waste collection and sorting. The recycled fibres will then be converted into yarn by European manufacturers Linz Textil and TWD Fibres, from which adidas will create products with end-of-life in mind. Fashion for Good will manage the project, leading industry communications and constructing a scaleable business model.
