Decoding the Science Behind the Chemical Recycling of Textiles

Recycling is one of the many ways sustainability can be achieved in textile and apparel industry. However, access to commercial technology is one of the several barriers toward fibre-to-fibre recycling. This paper tries to explore the supply chain and technology challenges of chemical recycling. This study scours the secondary sources of information from journals, websites, patent databases and blogs to track and document all the organizations associated directly and indirectly with the textile recycling domain. It was found that unlike a linear network the organizations are arranged in concentric circles. The upstream players like manufacturers (who convert waste textile to virgin textile) comprise only 25% and concentrated in the inner circle and enjoy least visibility. The think tanks, industry associations, certification bodies, research foundations, marketers, brands, etc., are spread across the outer circle and enjoy the maximum visibility. The marketers, contract manufacturers and aggregators maintain the crucial links between the outer and inner circle. The patent analysis shows European (50%) and US organizations (40%) dominate the technology development and most of the patents will be available for commercialization after 2030–2035, thereby limiting the spread and adoption of technology worldwide. The chemical technologies mainly used for recycling are depolymerization and hydrolysis and the chemicals used for recycling are mostly ionic liquids or organic compounds. 80% of the patents are found to be new-age companies with an average age of 11 years without any history of textile machinery or chemistry.