Solution: Recycling Technology. Owner: Worn Again. Circular Strategy: Recycle.
Description
Worn Again has developed a system to transform polyester, polycotton blended textiles and PET plastics, back into circular raw materials. The technology separates, decontaminates, and extracts polyester and cellulose (from cotton), from non-reusable textiles, polyester bottles and packaging. The output is cellulose pulp and PET resin that can then be used as fabric.
Location
London, United Kingdom.
Scale
Around 20-30 employees.
Potential circular economy impact
Around 85% of textiles goes to landfill and incineration every year. Current textile recycling methods can only turn less than 1% of non-reusable textiles back into new textile. Worn Again plays an important role as their technology can turn textile into material that will re-enter the supply chain, keeping it in the loop. The company aims to scale their technology to global plant operators to accelerate the usage of this solution.
What’s involved?
People: Scientists and laboratory technicians.
Resources: Laboratory; pure and blended textiles from clothes; PET plastic from plastic items.
Technology: Laboratory equipment.
Implementation: Implement a collection system to receive plastic and clothes at their end-of-use stage; separate, decontaminate and extract polyester and cellulose from textiles and polyester items to produce dual PET and cellulose as outputs; spin those outputs into fibres; sell the virgin-equivalent raw materials for clothing manufacturers.