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Polyester textiles have been successfully recycled back into raw material via a joint UK venture
Project Re:claim, a joint venture between corporatewear specialists Project Plan B and Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL) has unveiled plans for the first commercial-scale, post-consumer recycling plant.
SATCoL, which is the trading arm of the Salvation Army charity, has formed a joint venture with Project Plan B having successfully recycled polyester textiles back into raw materials.
The new plant will recycle around 2,500 tonnes in its first year of operation and look to increase to 5,000 in year two. The technology creates polyester pellets which have been successfully turned into yarn.
Tim Cross, chief executive officer at Project Plan B, says: “We need a seismic change in how garments are designed and produced.
“Polyester textile recycling is one of the biggest opportunities to reduce the harmful impact of producing garments and this new technology is the first proven commercial scale system that has been designed to cope with the challenges of recycling post-consumer clothing.”
The Project Re:claim technology is a thermomechanical recycling process known as a Thermo Mechanical Extrusion Recycler (TMER) machine. It will recycle polyester garments, and other manufacturing offcuts textiles into rPET pellets made from textiles.
The exclusive recycling system, developed by Project Plan B, is based on plastic bottle recycling, and will help SATCoL at one of its processing centres, which processes around 65,000 tonnes of donated textiles every year.
Previously there was no post-consumer polyester recycling scheme with the UK producing over half a million tonnes of polyester textile waste every year (research from WRAP), with only 1% of textiles in the UK being recycled (Ellen MacArthur Foundation).
The initiative believes that workwear is a key target area of the project due to the two-year average lifespan of uniforms.
Majonne Frost, head of Environment & Sustainability at SATCoL, concludes: “Our vision is to enable companies to produce corporatewear and fashion garments using recycled polyester.
“This is an opportunity for companies to make a commitment to significantly reduce their environmental impact. In preparation for full production, we are currently seeking 100% polyester textiles such as used hotel linen or post-event promotional banners.”
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