2018

Heikkilä, Pirjo; Fontell, Paula; Kamppuri, Taina; Mensonen, Aino; Määttänen, Marjo; Pitkänen, Marja; Raudaskoski, Anne; Vehmas, Kaisa; Vehviläinen, Marianna; Harlin, Ali

Circular Economy of Textiles (TEKI) –project, also known as The Relooping Fashion Initiative, aimed for piloting and modelling the closed circular ecosystem for textiles. Such ecosystem would lay a foundation for utilization of textiles in a new way. Aim was to produce business opportunities and shared value for all parties within value chain.<br/>Our consortium included actors from all stages of the value chain to enable practical implementation of post-consumer textile recycling pilot. Prototype materials - fibres, yarns, and knitted materials and products - were obtained from lab and pilot scale trials, and overall feasibility of the chemical recycling for post-consumer cotton was evaluated. However, the part closing the loop in the pilot, a retail collection, was not realised yet. Modelling of ecosystem produced description of actors, processes and material flow within closed textile recycling ecosystem as well as description of division of added value within ecosystem. We also studied consumer habits and consumer communication as method for committing consumers to circular<br/>economy.<br/>Main outcomes of the project were: 1) successful industrial scale pilot taking VTT’s cellulose carbamate technology as chemical recycling route for cotton materials into commercialization bath; 2) gaining better understanding of missing pieces of circular business ecosystem for textiles and launching activities to fill in the value network; and 3) increased consumer<br/>awareness through better understanding on consumer communication, which can increase the awareness about possibilities and need for textile recycling in society in general.