Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PESCO-UP (Textile fibre recycling from mixed streams of PESCO textiles)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30
Europe faces a significant textile waste problem. Every year, between 7 and 7.5 million tons of textile waste are generated, with millions of tons of potential resources discarded in landfills and incineration. Today, only about 30 to 35 per cent of this waste is collected separately, and less than 1 per cent is recycled into new clothing. The textile consumption in Europe alone is responsible for the use of 676 million tonnes of primary raw materials, including natural fibres, fossil fuels, and chemicals. It also consumes 53 billion m3 of water, 360,000 km2 of land, and emits 335 million tonnes of CO2eq. PESCO-UP aims to transform the textile industry into a circular one. The goal is to create new raw materials and products from mixed cotton-polyester wastes, addressing the circularity across the textile recycling value chain. By reducing the industry's dependency on virgin materials, PESCO-UP aims to decrease the textile industry's emissions significantly. By developing viable processes for recycling mixed cotton-polyester textiles into high-quality secondary fibres and enabling tools such as a Digital Material Passport (DMP), PESCO-UP provides concrete proof of how circular textiles can reduce Europe’s reliance on virgin resources and limit the socio-ecological impacts of the textiles sector. These actions are paving the way for a viable and economically sustainable textile recycling industry in Europe. The effect of PESCO-UP is expected to be profound. It is estimated that approximately 20 green jobs could be created for every 1,000 tons of textiles collected, sorted, and recycled, ultimately resulting in up to 120,000 jobs in the European Union. Additionally, the working conditions in the textile sector will be improved through safer processing conditions and the use of AI-based digital solutions in textile sorting.
Significant achievements have been made in several technical areas. Digitalised processes and hyperspectral imaging methods for identifying and sorting textile blends have started to be developed, with initial algorithms and sample measurements. The definition of minimum data requirements for data-based services and imaging methods has laid the groundwork for the development of a Digital Material Passport and a data-sharing marketplace, aiming to improve the matching of feedstock supply and demand in the recycling value chain.
In the area of textile purification, extensive laboratory and pilot-scale trials have optimised mechanical and chemical pretreatments, colour removal, and elastane degradation, with the first pilot batches delivered for further processing. This work has revealed boundaries related to the dyeing methods used and the developed decolourisation technologies. Separation technologies for cotton and polyester fractions have been advanced, achieving high purity levels in laboratory trials. Initial regenerated fibres and films have been produced from the cotton fraction. For the polyester fraction, protocols for thermomechanical and chemical recycling have been established, and preliminary application development for polyurethanes and composites has started. The project has also made progress in mapping value chains, analysing policy, standard and market conditions, and initiating techno-economic and sustainability assessments. Two open-access publications on LCA and Circular Economy drivers, which will contribute to doctoral defences at the end of 2025, have been published.
In the area of textile purification, extensive laboratory and pilot-scale trials have optimised mechanical and chemical pretreatments, colour removal, and elastane degradation, with the first pilot batches delivered for further processing. This work has revealed boundaries related to the dyeing methods used and the developed decolourisation technologies. Separation technologies for cotton and polyester fractions have been advanced, achieving high purity levels in laboratory trials. Initial regenerated fibres and films have been produced from the cotton fraction. For the polyester fraction, protocols for thermomechanical and chemical recycling have been established, and preliminary application development for polyurethanes and composites has started. The project has also made progress in mapping value chains, analysing policy, standard and market conditions, and initiating techno-economic and sustainability assessments. Two open-access publications on LCA and Circular Economy drivers, which will contribute to doctoral defences at the end of 2025, have been published.
Digital tools to optimise textile recycling: Minimum data requirements for data technologies, including the DMP (Digital Material Passport), were established to optimise the performance of the recycling ecosystem. The work has led to collaboration with other textile recycling projects in ECOSYSTEX TG5 and with the standardisation workgroup CEN/CWA. The development of DMP and its inclusion as part of an open data shared marketplace to match the supply and demand of textile feedstocks in recycling value chains has started in the project and will be demonstrated. In addition, the carried policy and standardisation inventory work, as well as the interviews on potential barriers and enablers for scaling up the circular textiles business, highlighted the importance of data, especially the digital material/product passport, for creating a circular textile industry. Therefore, data and the Digital Product Passport were selected to be the topic of the upcoming Policy event organised by PESCO-UP.