The Trash-2-Cash project aims at giving a second life to used or discarded material from textile waste streams and recycled fibre reject from paper and packaging fractions. T2C strongly contributes to a radical change in the general view on these streams, from waste to a valuable material source. It also breaks down the barriers between designers and material scientists, making them join forces to work together on potential future products to promote material innovation and strenghten Europes creative industry. The vision within the project is that products should live in several life cycles, meaning that the designed products generated from this work within the project will be developed through a closed-loop perspective.
There is an urgent need for technical advancements in recycling of textiles. The textile industry, according to the Energy Administration Authorities of Europe and USA, is the 5th largest contributor to CO2 emissions in these countries, after primary metals, non-metallic mineral products, petroleum and chemicals. In 2008, the annual global textile production was estimated at 60 billion kilograms of fabric. The estimated energy and water needed to produce that amount of fabric is overwhelming: 1,074 billion of kWh of electricity or 132 million metric tons of coal, and between 6 and 9 trillion of litres of water. The European Community has limited the organic landfill with legislation to reduce the large waste generation, but it takes more than legislative measures to exploit this valuable resource.
The overall objective of T2C is to develop new materials and products via creative design from waste materials and industrial side or by-products from the textile and paper industries and to promote development within the creative sector by providing technology solutions for exploitation of waste streams and design for recycling.
