FibreSort is an automated sorting technology that's able to recognize the composition and color of textiles. This technology has been developed and the development started 10 years ago, by Wilan Textiles, a sorter that realized that it has quite a big share of non-rewearable textiles. These are used textiles that do not have a value on the second-hand market. This can be because they are broken, they are not clean or they're very much out of fashion. So they are not necessarily technically broken textiles. So these non wearable textiles up to then and also currently, you would send them for, let's call it down-cycling, somewhere else abroad or in the worst case they are incinerated. At the moment that textiles are no longer re-wearable, it doesn't really matter whether they are trousers or a t-shirt.
put the cottons with the cottons, the wool with the wool, the cotton polyester blends with the cotton polyester blends, etc. So you can sell off these fractions to recyclers to process them.
In 2016, a collaboration between six different partners started in the context of an interactive project. So that's an European funded project. And the aim of this project is to commercialize the FibreSort technology. there are two big components here so on the one hand, the partners decided to work together to improve the technical performance of the technology. you need to include the whole chain, or at least the chain, let's say the functions around the FibreSort to make sure that it's commercially viable. And also to make sure that the technology does what it should be doing. It's very important to have automated sorting technologies. Because the alternative would be manual sorting.
there are different disadvantages to manual sorting.
One, it takes lots of time. two you would basically base it on labels.So on composition claims on labels.labels they can be cut out, so then for those garments you can not actually sort them.
for specific material types there are reasons to doubt the accuracy of these composition claims. So to sort manually, to do that at skill and to really increase the business case for sorters and collectors and use textiles, it doesn't really make sense. you will not be able to sort them accurately, because of the labels. also it's not financially viable to check all these different labels. So that's why you really need automated sorting, otherwise it will never be a solution that cannot really operate at scale.
a very important limitation is that it only sorts mono materials. these are garments that consist of one material type.
there are different kinds of fabric on one product, you're not able to process those. So all those more complicated materials, products, they cannot be used as an input for the FibreSort. And that's a very important limitation because it means that the FibreSort is a beautiful technology and very promising to close the textile loop. we do have a rest problem in a sense that not every material is a mono material.
Another big challenge still ahead is at the moment that you have sorted these textiles, and you want to sell it to a mechanical recycler for instance, because those are the mature technologies currently out there, There are still zippers, buttons and labels in those garments, the need for hardware removal - possible by hand, but the financial viability is tough.
the challenge of this project is very much related not necessarily on the technology, but rather on the market development
the business model for collecters and sorters needs to change, in order for collectors and sorters to still be around in a few years from now. So this transition towards circularity for them is crucial to ensure that they are still able to collect and sort used textiles.And it's also very much why for instance I believe in the FibreSort technology and the need for similar technologies to arise. Because if we don't do anything in the current setting, so with these mountains of used textiles just growing, and meanwhile the demand for these textiles struggling let's say, If we don't do anything, then actually in a few years from now, there will be no financial incentive for collectors to collect textiles anymore.
According to Hilde van Duijn, textiles should be recycled in multiple rounds, versus using recycled content for yarn/textiles, without further recycling possibilities. An automated sorting system is needed according to Hilde, so that textile waste can be collected and sorted in a viable future business model, versus hand sorting as we know it today. In order to be able to correctly reuse or recycle the large volumes of textile waste, a market demand for recycled materials is needed. These will establish a closed loop textiles system. She does not specifically talk about consumer awareness
The PET fibres come from bottles, which is a source of PET that can be recycled either into new bottles or into garments. However, Hilde van Duijn states that once PET fibres are used for garments, it is impossible to then recycle that garment into a new textile again. The garment has lost its value as a textile and can only be recycled in other capacities. She perceives this as value loss and therefore, downcycling.
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