This article was originally published in The Interline’s second Sustainability Report. To read other opinion pieces, exclusive editorials, and detailed profiles and interviews with key vendors, download the full Sustainability Report 2024 completely free of charge and ungated.
Textile waste is a growing global challenge. Less than 1% of the global textile fiber market is coming from recycled textiles, leaving the textile industry far behind others in waste management and circular solutions. The textile industry today accounts for up to 10% of global CO2e emissions, with polyester being the biggest emitter and fastest growing fiber. Virgin polyester, made from crude oil in refineries, and bottle-to-fiber recycled polyester, are however both linear meaning the majority of all end-of-life products currently end up in landfills or being incinerated. The industry is now at a tipping point as the European Union and other actors are introducing legislation that will regulate textile waste and accelerate demand for circular materials.
So many people would then ask shouldn’t we stop producing and using polyester all together. Polyester will however not go away – it is in fact a very strong fiber giving textile products vastly longer life spans as well as offering performance that other fibers simply cannot provide. It is used across industries and in products ranging from airbags and seatbelts to furniture and sports gear. Of course, reducing consumption and optimizing design and production will be key, however the main way we can reduce textile’s impact is by extending use. If we can cut polyester’s reliance on virgin fossil resources and carbon intense production, we will be able to make use of the features at a much lower cost to the climate.
So what will it take to move the needle, and to drive the green transition needed in an industry lacking large-scale solutions and still too far from sense-of-urgency?
First, to move from innovation to action. There are many great startups and technologies out there, but what is needed now is speed and scale. What has been lacking is true textile-to-textile recycling at global hyperscale, driving the transition from a linear to a circular value chain by putting textile waste to use, over and over again. What has also been lacking is financial muscles and long terms investors to make it happen. Until now. So what do we then mean by hyperscale? For us, it means setting up 10-12 textile-to-textile gigascale plans globally in the coming decade – producing in total 3 million metric tons of circular polyster and achieving up to 85 percent reduction in CO2e emissions compared to virgin polyester production. It is not enough, but it is a very good start.
Secondly, to accelerate the great textile shift, one key element is collaboration and partnerships. We (= the industry) need to work in a different way versus today to enable true sustainable business happening. We need a handshake between the scale-ups and the brands. Among many things, but most crucial in the form of ‘offtake agreements’, a binding contract between the brands and the innovators, securing capacity for the brands whilst enabling the scale-ups to secure funding and building the capacity. Our team has mapped hundreds of apparel brands, polyester intense automotive OEMs, and home interior brands, versus the forecasted global capacity of circular material from recyclers. And applied some probability, legislation pressure, and science based target initiatives sign ups – showing a gap of 12 million metric tons by 2030 of supply vs demand gap. We need all hands on deck to deliver.
Last but not least, bravery. For too long, the refrain in the textile industry has been that true circularity is just not ready for prime time, that technology and solutions aren’t there yet. But virgin quality materials are now able to be made profitably from waste, at scale, again and again and again. And regulations will increasingly demand it. The future-focused brands are well aware that this textile shift is happening, and realize that very soon circular materials will be locked up by the early movers. Across the value chain, we are beginning to see true leadership happening. This is very encouraging. But we need to move bolder, and faster. Together.
I envision a world where textile-to-textile recycling has become a natural part of our society’s infrastructure. Where the textiles we create, use, and throw away are constantly reborn into new, high-quality products. Ensuring an infinite cycle of the past and the future. A world where every textile fiber sees an new day.
For our customers, partners, and investors – but first and foremost, for our planet.