Femnet e.V.

The findings of this study can be used as evidence base to improve the knowledge of the effectiveness of recycling capabilities of textile waste. This study wants to substantiate the understanding of the existing technologies industrially applied or at research stage, which relate to all the different types of recycling (e.g. mechanical recycling, chemical monomer recycling, chemical polymer recycling, etc.). It also provides an analysis of the economic and environmental effectiveness of those recycling technologies and a roadmap of the textile recycling technologies under development in order to support their industrial uptake.

Finally, it also provides an analysis on relevant policy initiatives in order to tackle potential regulatory barriers and scale up textile waste recycling activities in the EU.

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From a European consumption perspective, textiles have on average the fourth highest negative life cycle impacts on the environment and climate change – after food, housing and mobility. A shift to a circular textiles production and consumption system with longer use, reuse and recycling can contribute to reducing those impacts, along with reductions in overall consumption. One important measure is circular design of textiles to improve product durability, repairability and recyclability, and to ensure the uptake of secondary raw materials in new products.

The aim of this report is to contribute to the implementation of the EU Strategy for Textiles and the EU Sustainable Product Initiative through an improved understanding of the environmental impacts from textiles from a European perspective and identify design principles and measures to increase circularity in textiles.

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Despite significant challenges in the fashion industry over the past few years due to Covid-19, we are encouraged by the number of brands using next-gen materials in their products. The number of fashion, automotive, and home goods brands interested in next-gen materials has increased along with the supply of next-gen materials. This market trend is not surprising given the increased consumer demand for animal-free and environmentally friendly products and the development of new technologies allowing for significant improvement in the aesthetics and performance of next-gen materials.

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This tool offers a new perspective on buyer-supplier relationships by examining those relationships through the lens of partnership quality. Using just 12 subjective measures, the BBPI opens up new opportunities to learn about the impacts of purchasing practices by enabling suppliers in a range of industries and supply chain tiers to participate.

A total of 679 ratings were received during the 2021 ratings cycle. One hundred buyers were rated, including 94 buyers in the Softgoods category and 6 in the Hardgoods category (buyers that sell product types other than apparel, footwear, and household textiles). Most ratings were for Softgoods buyers (519 ratings), while the remaining were for Hardgoods buyers (160 ratings).

The suppliers that submitted ratings were from 50 different countries and regions, with nearly half of the ratings coming from the following areas: China (16.2% of all ratings), Taiwan (10.3%), the United States (9.9%), Hong Kong (6.3%), and South Korea (5.9%).

Key takeaways:

• Suppliers are under much pressure: many buyers never, rarely, or sometimes providing enough time, adequate visibility, stable business, and fair financials
• Many buyers are missing opportunities to improve their businesses by not seeking their suppliers’ ideas for product and process innovation
• Suppliers seem to currently have a low bar for what they consider an acceptable business relationship
• Buyer supply chains are further threatened by potential supply disruption, higher costs, and increased reputational risks.

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Weltweit werden immer mehr Textilien produziert – mit gravierenden Folgen für die Umwelt. Ein möglicher Lösungsansatz: eine kreislauffähige Textilwirtschaft mit funktionierenden Recyclingprozessen und entsprechenden Infrastrukturen. Das Forschungsprojekt „DiTex - Digitale Technologien als Enabler einer ressourceneffizienten kreislauffähigen B2B-Textilwirtschaft“ erprobt im Charakter einer Machbarkeitsstudie eine kreislauffähige Textilwirtschaft im Geschäftskundensegment, d.h. im Bereich Business-to-Business (B2B). Dahinter steht die Einschätzung, dass bei Berufsbekleidung und Flachwäsche (Bettwaren, Handtücher) im gewerblichen Kontext enorme Volumina identischer Textilien im Umlauf sind und die Logistik über jeweils fixe Ausgabe- und Rücknahmepunkte in den einzelnen Einrichtungen gut organisiert und etabliert ist. Die Beteiligten in diesem Projektverbund erachten es in besonderem Maße für möglich, in dieser weitgehend geschlossenen B2B-Textilwirtschaft einen ressourceneffizienten ökologischen Materialeinsatz mit einem dienstleistungsbasierten und auf häufige Nutzungszyklen ausgerichteten Geschäftsmodell zu verbinden, das digitale Technologien smart nutzt. DiTex will dafür eine Erprobungsplattform sein.

Dieser Integrative Forschungsbericht (IB) stellt eine möglichst vollständige Ergebnisdokumentation der DiTex-Arbeiten nach zwei von insgesamt drei Jahren Vorhabenslaufzeit dar. Alle bis Sommer 2021 in den Arbeitspaketen (AP) 1 und 2 erzielten Recherche- und Prüfergebnisse werden in diesem Bericht dokumentiert, ausgewertet und interpretiert.

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