Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CISUTAC (Circular & Sustainable Textiles & Clothing)
Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-08-31
The project CISUTAC (Circular and Sustainable Textiles and Clothing) aims at increasing circularity and sustainability in textiles and clothing in Europe. The production and consumption of textile products continue to grow, together with their impact on the environment, due to a lack of reuse, repair and recycling of materials. Quality, durability, and recyclability are often not being set as priorities in the design and manufacturing of clothing (EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, March 2022). The objective of CISUTAC is to minimise the sector’s total environmental impact by developing sustainable, novel, and inclusive large-scale European value chains. CISUTAC covers a relevant part of the textile sector and shows how to close loops at product and at material level. This will be done by:
- Working on 2 material groups representing almost 90% of all textile fibre materials: polyester and cotton
- Focusing on products from 3 sub-sectors experiencing varying circularity bottlenecks: fashion, workwear & PPE, active goods.
CISUTAC will follow a holistic approach covering the technical, sectoral and socio-economic aspects, and will perform 3 pilots to demonstrate the feasibility and value of:
- Repair and disassembly
- Sorting (for reuse and recycling)
- Circular garments through fibre-to-fibre recycling and design for circularity
CISUTAC also raises awareness among EU citizens about the environmental impact of buying new clothes and the benefits of reusing, donating and shopping second hand textiles.
- Working on 2 material groups representing almost 90% of all textile fibre materials: polyester and cotton
- Focusing on products from 3 sub-sectors experiencing varying circularity bottlenecks: fashion, workwear & PPE, active goods.
CISUTAC will follow a holistic approach covering the technical, sectoral and socio-economic aspects, and will perform 3 pilots to demonstrate the feasibility and value of:
- Repair and disassembly
- Sorting (for reuse and recycling)
- Circular garments through fibre-to-fibre recycling and design for circularity
CISUTAC also raises awareness among EU citizens about the environmental impact of buying new clothes and the benefits of reusing, donating and shopping second hand textiles.
During this reporting period, the project advanced significantly in developing and demonstrating circular textile technologies. At the system level, updated infrastructure mapping and transition scenarios were completed, alongside a decision‑support tool now applied within the sorting pilot. Technical input for Digital Product Passport implementation was delivered through an open data guide and circular design recommendations.
Sorting solutions were further refined and integrated into the digital-aided sorting pilot, with the aim to improve the accuracy and speed of identifying materials for reuse and recycling. Semi‑automated repair and dismantling workstations were successfully piloted in both commercial and social‑enterprise environments, confirming their operational feasibility and their potential to recover higher‑value components and reduce manual workload.
Recycling innovations progressed with lab‑scale validation of polyester pre‑treatment. Pilot‑scale Vacurema equipment for polyester recycling was installed, enabling fibre‑to‑fibre recycling trials.
Socio‑technical insights were strengthened through a large‑scale consumer study identifying effective behavioural interventions for encouraging reuse and repair. New reports on circular business models and local embedding provided actionable guidance for integrating repair, reuse, and recycling activities into regional textile ecosystems. The pilot implementations across sorting, repair/dismantling, and polyester recycling progressed, feeding into ongoing sustainability assessments (LCA, LCC, PEF, and social LCA). Data collection for most pilots is complete, with preliminary results shared for validation and improvement.
Sorting solutions were further refined and integrated into the digital-aided sorting pilot, with the aim to improve the accuracy and speed of identifying materials for reuse and recycling. Semi‑automated repair and dismantling workstations were successfully piloted in both commercial and social‑enterprise environments, confirming their operational feasibility and their potential to recover higher‑value components and reduce manual workload.
Recycling innovations progressed with lab‑scale validation of polyester pre‑treatment. Pilot‑scale Vacurema equipment for polyester recycling was installed, enabling fibre‑to‑fibre recycling trials.
Socio‑technical insights were strengthened through a large‑scale consumer study identifying effective behavioural interventions for encouraging reuse and repair. New reports on circular business models and local embedding provided actionable guidance for integrating repair, reuse, and recycling activities into regional textile ecosystems. The pilot implementations across sorting, repair/dismantling, and polyester recycling progressed, feeding into ongoing sustainability assessments (LCA, LCC, PEF, and social LCA). Data collection for most pilots is complete, with preliminary results shared for validation and improvement.
Main results beyond the state of the art in this reporting period are:
- Decision-support tool for textile sorting refined, enabling systematic routing of textile fractions to reuse, repair, or recycling pathways.
- Technical guidance for Digital Product Passport implementation, including an open data guide and updated circular design recommendations to support durability, disassembly, and recyclability.
- Advanced sorting solution enabling more efficient decision-making for reuse and recycling, integrated into a digital-aided sorting pilot ready for operational testing in the last reporting period.
- Semi‑automated repair and dismantling stations, validated in both commercial and social‑enterprise environments, proving feasibility for higher‑value fibre recovery and rapid garment repair.
- Pilot-scale polyester fibre‑to‑fibre recycling line established through installation of Vacurema equipment, enabling trials to produce higher-quality recycled polyester suitable for textile applications.
- Updated European infrastructure mapping and transition scenarios, providing an integrated view of collection, sorting, and recycling capacities, and identifying bottlenecks in future large-scale circular textile value chains.
- Large-scale consumer behaviour evidence identifying the most effective interventions to stimulate reuse and repair, providing data for more impactful circular business models.
- Decision-support tool for textile sorting refined, enabling systematic routing of textile fractions to reuse, repair, or recycling pathways.
- Technical guidance for Digital Product Passport implementation, including an open data guide and updated circular design recommendations to support durability, disassembly, and recyclability.
- Advanced sorting solution enabling more efficient decision-making for reuse and recycling, integrated into a digital-aided sorting pilot ready for operational testing in the last reporting period.
- Semi‑automated repair and dismantling stations, validated in both commercial and social‑enterprise environments, proving feasibility for higher‑value fibre recovery and rapid garment repair.
- Pilot-scale polyester fibre‑to‑fibre recycling line established through installation of Vacurema equipment, enabling trials to produce higher-quality recycled polyester suitable for textile applications.
- Updated European infrastructure mapping and transition scenarios, providing an integrated view of collection, sorting, and recycling capacities, and identifying bottlenecks in future large-scale circular textile value chains.
- Large-scale consumer behaviour evidence identifying the most effective interventions to stimulate reuse and repair, providing data for more impactful circular business models.