Creative use of fast fashion to save nature.
Pollution created by making and dyeing clothes has pitted the fashion industry and environmentalists against each other. Now, the advent of “fast fashion”-trendy clothing affordable enough to be disposable- has strained that relationship even more. But what if we could recycle clothes like we recycle paper, or even upcycle them? Scientists report today new progress toward that goal.
People don’t want to spend much money on textiles anymore, but poor-quality garments don’t last,” Simone Haslinger explained. “A small amount might be recycled as cleaning rags, but the rest ends up in landfills, where it degrades and releases carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Also, there isn’t much arable land anymore for cotton fields, as we also have to produce food for a growing population.”
All these reasons amount to a big incentive to recycle clothing, and some efforts are already underway, such as take-back programmes. But even industry representatives admit in news reports that only a small percentage gets recycled.
A better strategy, said Herbert Sixta, PhD, who heads the biorefineries research group at Aalto University, is to upcycle worn-out garments: “We want to not only recycle garments, but we want to really produce the best possible textiles so that recycled fibre is even better than native fibre.” But achieving this goal isn’t simple. Cotton and other fibre are often blended with polyester in fabrics such as “cotton-polyester blends,” which complicates processing.
People don’t want to spend much money on textiles anymore, but poor-quality garments don’t last,” Simone Haslinger explained. “A small amount might be recycled as cleaning rags, but the rest ends up in landfills, where it degrades and releases carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Also, there isn’t much arable land anymore for cotton fields, as we also have to produce food for a growing population.”
All these reasons amount to a big incentive to recycle clothing, and some efforts are already underway, such as take-back programmes. But even industry representatives admit in news reports that only a small percentage gets recycled.
A better strategy, said Herbert Sixta, PhD, who heads the biorefineries research group at Aalto University, is to upcycle worn-out garments: “We want to not only recycle garments, but we want to really produce the best possible textiles so that recycled fibre is even better than native fibre.” But achieving this goal isn’t simple. Cotton and other fibre are often blended with polyester in fabrics such as “cotton-polyester blends,” which complicates processing.
Previous research showed that many ionic liquids can dissolve cellulose. But the resulting material couldn’t then be re-used to make new fibre. Then about five years ago, Sixta’s team found an ionic liquid-1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene acetate - that could dissolve cellulose from wood pulp, producing a material that could be spun into fibre. Later testing showed that these fibres are stronger than commercially available viscose and feel similar to lyocell. Lyocell is also known by the brand name Tencel, which is a fibre favoured by eco-conscious designers because it’s made of wood pulp.
See the Story in Chemical Today magazine
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