Sustainability Report 2017

Research projects and partnerships Although TEXAID conducts numerous research projects at its sites and with partners around the world, a few stand out from the rest. One such project is the Swedish research program “Mistra Future Fashion.” This project, launched in 2011 by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, is a cross-disciplinary research program that aims on creating a closed loop recycling system in the fashion and textile industry, while at the same time promoting sustain- able consumption. The program is divided into four parts: Design, Textile Production, Consumers and Textile Recycling. Over 50 research and industry partners including TEXAID are now participating in the program. When it comes to recycling, the focus is primarily on cotton and polyester blends. The researchers hope to determine the best way to separate, re-use, and dye these fiber blends. During the project, TEXAID shares its know-how regarding sustainable collection, sorting and recycling. The “Texcycle” project planned for 2018 is a similar initiative that will use unwearable used clothing to produce a raw material that is ideal for high-quality recycling. The project is a joint venture by TEXAID, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts , and Coop . The first step will involve analyzing the current processes used to prepare second-hand garments for recycling and how these processes can be optimized for other applications. The project is based on the “close the loop” approach and thus tackles the question of how textile life cycles can be closed. Teaming up with researchers at the Swedish Environmental Institute (IVL) , TEXAID will also assist with the development of automated sorting processes for used textiles. SIPTex, or the “Swedish Innovation Platform for Textile Sorting,” seeks to create auto- mated processes for identifying the types of fibers that are present in textiles. Its “Fee­ ding Into Textile Sorting for Recycling” (FITS) project is looking into how to optimize and automate the feeding into the identification device. SIPTex is testing two types of de- tection technologies to test automated sorting possibilities. The goal is to be able to identify the material properties of used textiles automatically. UV/VIS-Spectroscopy is a technology which uses electromagnetic waves of ultraviolet light (UV). A similar project, called “Fibersort,” automatically sorts large amounts of used textiles according to the composition of their fibers, and thus makes efficient sorting the basis for high-quality recycling. This project is backed by Interreg North-West Europe (NWE), a European Commission-funded program that encourages regional collaboration. TEXAID takes part in discussions relating to the project and, upon request, offers its work data for analyses. 50