From textile waste to a new circular material

In the textile industry, part of the materials generated during production ends up as waste. But what if that waste could become the raw material for a new product?

This idea gave rise to an innovation project developed by PREWASTE with a textile company, focused on finding a new way to recover one of the waste streams generated by its activity.

The starting point is a stream of around 88 tonnes of textile waste a year, made up mainly of PET fibres and PET-CoPET bicomponent fibres. Given its properties, this material had the potential to be transformed and brought back into a new production cycle.

A new opportunity for textile waste

The project studied several technological options before identifying a solution based on thermal compaction of the waste itself.

The particular composition of the fibres means that, when heat is applied, one of their components acts as a binder between the fibres. This makes it possible to obtain a new material without adding external thermosetting resins.

The research moved from initial tests to an experimental phase using around 500 kg of textile waste.

The first results confirmed the cohesion and stability of the material and opened up different possibilities for processing and use.

From prototype to new applications

One of the applications identified is decorative acoustic panels and other interior design solutions, taking advantage of the material’s properties and the fact that it can be produced in different formats.

Recovering this stream could avoid the conventional management of up to 88 tonnes of waste a year and lead to a potential reduction of between 317 and 369 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year. This last figure is a preliminary estimate that will need to be validated by a full life cycle assessment.

For PREWASTE, this project reflects a broader view of waste management: not only finding the best destination for a waste stream, but researching how it can become a new resource.