| Title |
Identifying the potential for circularity of industrial textile waste generated within Swiss companies |
| ID_Doc |
27637 |
| Authors |
Schmutz, M; Som, C |
| Title |
Identifying the potential for circularity of industrial textile waste generated within Swiss companies |
| Year |
2022 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.106132 |
| Abstract |
The textile industry is known to generate high amount of post-consumer waste that is generally landfilled or incinerated. In the era of circular economy, textile waste could be considered a resource to produce new textile products while reducing environmental impacts. While there are quite some studies on post-consumer waste, the industrial waste flows generated along different production steps of textile manufacturing have not yet been investigated. To fill this gap, this study collected quantitative data on industrial waste from Swiss companies. Based on a production of 15'880 tons, a total of 1505 tons of waste was generated in 2019. Out of this, 959 tons was made of yarn leftovers and 546 tons was made of fabric leftovers. Most of the yarn leftovers was made of one synthetic fiber (e.g. 100 % polyester), while most of the fabric waste was made of mixed materials. Incineration was the most used End-of-Life treatment with 562 tons, followed by reuse with 547 tons, open-loop recycling with 316 tons, and closed-loop recycling with 80 tons. The companies taking part in the study saw the biggest barrier to be the lack of market and of recyclers taking care of textile waste. The underlaying reason for this barrier is probably the fact that textile products are often made of mixed materials and recycling technology for these materials is not yet mature. If barriers were overcome, the 546 tons of waste fabric could potentially be used as raw material for manufacturing more than 1.7 million t-shirts. |
| Author Keywords |
Textile Waste; Material Flow Analysis; Circular Economy; Waste Management |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) |
| EID |
WOS:000793392400001 |
| WoS Category |
Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences |
| Research Area |
Engineering; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| PDF |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.106132
|