Sweden-based Södra reports it has developed a solution that will enable blended fiber fabrics to be recycled on a large scale. The company’s new technology can separate cotton from polyester in a poly/cotton blend. The cotton fibers may then be mixed in with the company’s wood-derived textile pulp in order to create new textiles. Viscose and lyocell textiles also may be processed using the technology. Currently, the company can only process white textiles, but is working on a decoloring solution to allow more textile waste to be recycled. Another goal is to investigate extracting “a stream of residual products from the polyester,” according to the company. In order to meet a goal of adding 25,000 metric tons of textiles to its pulp production, Södra is looking for partner companies to deliver large volumes of textiles for processing.
November/December 2019
