Feeling sheepish about that old woolly jumper that went in the bin? Ready to throw in the towel when it comes to disposing of used bathroom wash cloths? A New Zealand company is hoping for an exciting “rags-to-riches” story as they raise capital for a new textile recycling pilot plant.
With the textile industry being the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions behind the petroleum and agricultural industries and an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste hitting landfill every year globally, finding smart ways to recycle clothing is certainly a pressing need. Seeing an opportunity to address a long overlooked problem, the founders of UsedFully developed a system for reprocessing textile waste into other useful but completely transformed products.
Possibly one of their most intriguing end-products involves converting textile waste into a powdered material that can be mixed in with asphalt to make roads. With textiles being recycled locally there are cost savings and emissions reductions from not importing these materials from offshore. The process works for both cotton and polyester fabrics so reducing the amount of dumped waste also means less microplastics in the environment. UsedFully co-founder Bernadette Casey expects the new plant will be operational within 12 months.
It’s not the first time that everyday products have been repurposed in this way of course. Ground up used motor vehicle tyres find their way into a number of products and pulverised plastic waste can be found in building materials such as concrete blocks. Another innovative Kiwi company called Future Post manufactures fence posts entirely from recycled plastic. For an island nation like New Zealand, a long way from global markets, circularity and reprocessing waste locally makes a lot of sense.
Genius ReFi brings together Researchers, Entrepreneurs, Investors and Industry for creative collaborations in the commercialization of scalable Regenerative Science.
Image credit: Ales Jif via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
