Descrizione del progetto
Un sistema circolare per il riciclaggio dei rifiuti tessili provenienti dalle famiglie europee
Meno dell’1 % dei materiali utilizzati per produrre abbigliamento viene riciclato per produrre nuovi indumenti. Una direttiva impone che, a partire da gennaio 2025, i 27 Stati membri implementino un programma di raccolta differenziata dei rifiuti tessili provenienti dalle famiglie e soddisfino obiettivi di riciclaggio minimo più esigenti. La legislazione non è sufficiente per affrontare questo problema. La creazione di un sistema circolare per i rifiuti tessili post-consumo è un compito associato a numerose sfide, tra cui la mancanza di standard a livello europeo per la raccolta e lo smistamento dei rifiuti tessili tra i diversi paesi, un’inadeguata etichettatura di composizione, una qualità variabile dei materiali e la mancanza di dati affidabili tra le parti interessate della catena del valore. Il progetto T-REX, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di dimostrare come i rifiuti tessili provenienti dalle famiglie possano diventare una nuova materia prima e un modello commerciale per l’industria tessile mediante il coinvolgimento di attori chiave nell’intera catena del valore.
Obiettivo
The global consumption of textiles is increasing, with global production of the two most relevant fibres, cotton and polyester, expected to grow by 40% before 2023. There is also no EU-wide plan on how to deal with the existing and anticipated textile waste: currently less than 1% of the material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing in a closed-loop process while 87% is landfilled or incinerated. By January 2025 new EU Directive 2018/851 will require all member states to establish a separate household textile waste collection and respect increasing minimum recycling goals, but the pure legislative approach cannot alone solve the growing textile waste problem. Based on estimates from experts, we see that 1% of textile waste entering closed loops leads to 100B euros market loss each year. If a 30% recycling rate is reached (similar to average plastic packaging recycling rates), we will be able to valorize a 30 billion euros/year market.
The ambition of T-REX is to contribute to a paradigm shift from household textile waste into desired feedstock. Moreover, we aim to demonstrate that this new commodity and the business models based on it can be completely implemented within the EU. By involving major players across the whole value chain, we aim to demonstrate that a new ecosystem approach, with harmonized methods and quality criteria, can lead to a better understanding of our current textile waste and therefore better upcycling rates into new garments. We also intend to demonstrate that such products can appeal to consumers while at the same time be designed for further recycling. Our goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% across the complete value chain by 2030 by helping to end plastic waste.
This project will arm the EU with a commercially viable option to tackle the textile waste and the environmental problems it causes, whilst offering new fields to explore for EU businesses, new know-how for our citizens and, new workforces for the future.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation ActionsCoordinatore
91074 Herzogenaurach
Germania