Over their lifecycle, textiles have a huge effect on the climate. The global textile industry has become one of the world’s most polluting and waste-producing sectors with massive volumes of water, electricity, pesticides and fertilizers. The newest contribution to the items that are processed and redirected from the landfill is recycled textiles.
In the fashion industry, the processing and reuse of textiles, fibers and scrap materials is an important way to create sustainability. A paper from the U.S. The Department for Environmental Protection reports that textiles are a significant source of emissions of greenhouse gases. Efforts are being made to increase clothing recycling in order to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling clothes in the present situation will have an impact equal to annually pulling one million vehicles from the road.
In U.K., people use 2 million tons of clothes, 0.5 million tons of which are recycled. Nevertheless, 1 million tons were already disposed of. Although in Europe, one can find a clothing waste of about 14million tons out of which, a quarter of 5 million tons are recycled. Innovative techniques for processing textiles and creating useful products from recycled post-consumer materials have now become crucial.
Textiles dumped into landfills are becoming a huge worldwide problem. In order to decompose, natural fibers take years, while man-made fibers do not decompose. Woolen clothes decompose, but they emit into the atmosphere methane and carbon dioxide. This leads to warming worldwide. Synthetic materials emit nitrous oxide, which is a potent greenhouse gas, into the landfill. Toxic compounds, in comparison, pollute rivers and surrounding soil.
In the U.S., 75 percent of pre-consumer textile waste is recycled by farmers, while just 15 percent of post-consumer textile waste is recycled. Consumers are therefore assumed to be the main culprits, blamed for the waste of textiles.
In order to reduce the growth of textile waste, textile recycling is the only alternative. Furthermore, clothing processing provides many environmental benefits. It eliminates the need for landfill space, maintaining the greenhouse gases emitted from the dumped textiles in mind. In addition, the area around the landfill poses danger to the groundwater. The water consumes both pollutants and harmful products, such as chemicals, dyes and bleaches used on textiles, from whatever is discarded in the landfill any time it rains.
This wastewater, which can be 200 times more harmful than sewage water, is stored at the bottom of the landfill.
It is noted that if every person in the UK purchased one recycled woolen garment per year, it will save about 371 gallons of water and 480 tons of synthetic dyes. In their clothing line, more luxury companies are coming forward now to use recycled fibers and fabrics. Fashion recycling can be achieved in three ways.
The first approach requires the use of textiles made from recycled fibers or materials. Recycled polyester recycled from discarded plastic bottles, for example. The second technique is clothing cloth recycling, which is often called “Upcycling” For eg, using unused factory surplus or products which are usually thrown away.
Third, to offer a second hand, recycling clothes or garments, such as using second hand clothing by restoring or re-fashioning it. About 70 percent of the world’s population was found to wear second-hand clothing. Through generating 17,000 workers and eliminating 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer clothing waste from the dump yard every year, the textile recycling industry in the United States does a noteworthy job.
For natural and synthetic fabrics, the cloth recycling is distinct. The unworn material is first processed as per the fabric type and color for textiles made from natural fibers.
In the next point, via a carding process, the yarn is washed and combined. The yarn is spun again and is able to be used for knitting or weaving. For certain fabrics, there are special cloth processing systems. Any fabrics are not woven into yarns, but are squeezed so that they can be used, for example, in mattresses, for cloth filling.
Another form is used for textiles made of polyester, in which the fabrics are ripped and then granulated to create polyester chips. These chips, which can be found in modern polyester materials, are melted to create new fibers. In the current situation, however, textile recycling faced difficulties linked to expense, time and innovation.
However, as more and more suppliers of garments and other textile organizations realize the value of sustainability; more emphasis will be put on improving the efficiency of recycling.
According to Epiona, for the successful use of plastic waste used clothing, different sustainability techniques are being created. Manufacturers must take a pro-active approach to the disposal of plastic and reducing waste byproduct. The textile recycling industry is expected to continue to expand. Therefore, in order to achieve efficiency, the fashion industry must strive to re-use and reprocess clothing, fibers and plastic materials we already produced in the most possible manner.
Epiona is taken from the word Epione, the goddess of soothing of pain. They develop sustainable practical garments for healthcare professionals so that they can work at their best while they “save us and save earth.” They also accept used Epiona scrubs and will repurpose the returned items to make new garments, resulting in a 0 waste cycle.
Based on over 20 years of experience in the textile industry, they have seen and witnessed the toxic essence of the clothing industry. When the younger generation enters the industrial age, we aspire to shift the status quo of a single sector and seek to be at the forefront of sustainable and green medical garments.
Making textile processing simple would be a noteworthy success in improving textile recycling performance. To improve and speed up the process of textile sorting, the T4T (Textiles for Textiles) machine has been designed. Based on fiber structure, color, chemical mixture and other factors, the computer will sort textiles. The computer can identify the common elements of the garment and arrange it efficiently and conveniently. Around one garment per second can be scanned.