All posts tagged: recycling

Creating a circular economy for textiles

Creating a circular economy for textiles

Published by skeptic

Mark Sumner, Programme Lead for Textiles at WRAP, shares how the organisation is working to overhaul the textiles industry for a more sustainable future The textile industry is a significant contributor to the global economy, but the growing rates of textile production and consumption are having a detrimental impact on both nature and people. Creating a circular economy for textiles is, therefore, essential for a greener and better world. WRAP is a non-governmental organisation working to transform broken product and food systems to create circular living for the benefit of climate, nature, and people. One of its key focuses is transforming the world’s textiles system by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, slashing water use, and tackling textile waste. WRAP works with industry leaders in the UK and globally to develop, share, and scale new practices and policies to challenge the status quo and help the industry do business better. To learn more about the intricacies of WRAP’s work in the textiles sector, Editor Georgie Purcell spoke to Mark Sumner, Programme Lead for Textiles at WRAP. Why …

Nike World Cup Uniforms Made of Recycled Textiles Won’t Solve Fashion Waste

Nike World Cup Uniforms Made of Recycled Textiles Won’t Solve Fashion Waste

Published by skeptic

The push to do so through chemical means is a response to the shortcomings of other strategies they’ve tried. Traditional mechanical recycling through shredding and grinding causes fibers to break down. The resulting fabric must be blended with 70 to 80 percent virgin material so that anything made with it doesn’t pill and tear. The much more prevalent strategy involves turning discarded plastic bottles into new polyester. Patagonia pioneered this approach in the early ’90s, and by the start of this decade virtually all recycled polyester was sourced from old bottles. Today, however, companies have increasingly faced lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny from those who would rather see bottles turned back into bottles. Chemical recycling is supposed to be the next best thing. The term refers to using solvents to dissolve fibers into their base chemical units—building blocks that can be spun into new fabrics. On its face, this is a truly “circular” solution, because it doesn’t depend on bottles, and proponents say it can turn your used polyester shirts or running shorts into new ones over …

Palestinians want modern recycling to count West Bank trash crisis : NPR

Palestinians want modern recycling to count West Bank trash crisis : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

The heightened restrictions on movement make every aspect of life more difficult for the 3.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, in particular the collection and disposal of garbage. Eleanor Beardsley/NPR hide caption toggle caption Eleanor Beardsley/NPR RAMALLAH, West Bank – In a dimly-lit cement block warehouse near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the start-up dreams of two young entrepreneurs are beginning to take shape. Several machines hum away as they sort, wash, dry, shred and melt plastic garbage – spitting it out as recycled pellets to be used again. “From waste plastic to raw material again,” explains mechanical engineer Ibrahim Ghazal, who sifts through a handful of pellets from a bag weighing several tons. Ghazal is one of the co-founders of this start-up recycling operation called Scrapcycle Solutions. Mechanical engineer Ibrahim Ghazal is one of the co-founders of this start-up recycling operation called Scrapcycle Solution. Eleanor Beardsley/for NPR hide caption toggle caption Eleanor Beardsley/for NPR Friends since childhood, Ghazal and his business partner Faris Abu Keshek got the idea for the recycling …

Closing the loop on automotive plastics

Closing the loop on automotive plastics

Published by skeptic

The Global Impact Coalition outlines the measures needed to help the chemical industry close the loop on automotive plastics. Every year, more than 800,000 tonnes of plastic from end-of-life (ELV) vehicles in Europe are incinerated or landfilled. The automotive industry accounts for around 10% of global plastic demand. Yet, despite decades of sustainability commitments, less than 2.5% of plastic in new vehicles comes from recycled sources. The EU ELV regulation now requires that figure to reach 25% by 2036. The gap is not a technology problem. It is a value chain problem and solving it requires something the chemical industry has rarely attempted at scale: pre-competitive collaboration between competitors. In 2025, the Global Impact Coalition (GIC) launched the Automotive Plastics Circularity project to do exactly this. What the pilot did Eight major chemical companies – BASF, Covestro, LG Chem, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, SABIC, SUEZ and Syensqo – worked together through GIC to process 100 end-of-life vehicles through a full dismantling, shredding, and sorting chain. The project was designed to answer a question no single …

Circular economy actions could cut EU’s climate change impact by 22%

Circular economy actions could cut EU’s climate change impact by 22%

Published by skeptic

Three new assessments on circularity published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) have found significant benefits for both the economy and environment, if investment is accelerated to ensure policy targets are met. The assessments analysed and modelled 17 circular economy actions across sectors such as housing, mining, food, and mobility, and saw not only positive environmental impact, but also economic benefits. The briefing ‘The environmental and climate benefits of circular economy‘ saw that circular economy efforts had the potential to: reduce the EU’s impact on climate change by 22% reduce its impact on biodiversity loss by 19% and reduce air pollution (fine particulate matter) by 25%. Strategic investment could secure better access to materials and enable the creation of new businesses, reducing the EU’s reliance on raw materials from around the world. For example, the EU reliance on aluminium, nickel, and platinum group metals ores extracted in other world regions would decline by around 20%, and by 12% for copper. Better circularity means better materials In Europe, each person consumes 14.4 tonnes of materials each year …

Advancing Europe’s garment recycling with AI-driven condition assessment

Advancing Europe’s garment recycling with AI-driven condition assessment

Published by skeptic

The TexMat Solution automatically sorts consumer garments for resale through digital product passport data and AI‑based imaging and data‑processing technology. TEXMAT will revolutionise the garment reuse collection and business profitability in Europe. It incentivises consumers to bring their garments to collection machines through an effortless process: there’s no longer a need for consumers to select the suitable resale channel for their used clothes based on its condition, outlook or brand. All garments can be brought to a single location, the TexMat solution. Once a product is sold, the proceeds are automatically credited to the consumer. TexMat solution can improve business profitability, as different types of second-hand retailers can receive products through the system that their customers want, for example, based on brand, product category, size or colour. The manual sorting for either resale or garment recycling by second hand marketers will be minimised with the introduction of the TexMat solution. TexMat represents the kind of systemic innovation Europe needs by making textile circulation easy for consumers and commercially viable for businesses. DPP provides the key …

Plastic bags can’t go in household recycling bins – here’s what to do instead

Plastic bags can’t go in household recycling bins – here’s what to do instead

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Soft, stretchy plastics, ubiquitous in grocery bags, bubble wrap, and various packaging, present a persistent environmental challenge. These materials are nearly impossible to avoid and even harder to dispose of properly. If discarded in landfills, they can persist for hundreds of years, slowly degrading and releasing harmful microplastics into the environment. In 2018 alone, over 3 million tons (2.7 metric tons) of plastic bags, sacks, and wraps in the United States were sent to landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The problem extends beyond landfills. When these plastics are mistakenly placed in curbside recycling bins, they can severely disrupt the recycling process. Erha Andini, a Delaware-based chemical engineering expert and science communicator, explains, “Once they get shredded or even before, a lot of times they just clog recycling equipment.” This clogging can halt operations and damage machinery, making it counterproductive …

Sennebogen shows off electric, autonomous material handler

Sennebogen shows off electric, autonomous material handler

Published by skeptic

German equipment brand Sennebogen recently demonstrated a semi-autonomous material handling solution that combines an electric wheeled excavator, mobile battery, and a mobile shredder to improve throughput and efficiency in European recycling plants. First shown at the IFAT 2026 equipment show inMunich, Sennebogen’s electric excavator and mobile shredder semi-autonomous combo allows the shredder to communicate directly with the excavator and its operators, allowing them to coordinate material input and help increase process stability and repetition. That inpot process of material shredding has historically relied heavily on operator experience – even then, variations in material composition can make it extremely difficult to ride the line between overfilling and underutilization. Sennebogen’s new, autonomous process allows the shredder to tell the operator when it can take more, or when it needs to slow down, so they can choose to increase, decrease, or evem pause inputs altogether, helping the shredder maintain a steady pace to decrease wear and tear on the shredder while maximizing material throughput. Advertisement – scroll for more content In practice, that means the Sennebogen delivers more peak performance and …

Fraunhofer developing automated used battery recycling robot system

Fraunhofer developing automated used battery recycling robot system

Published by skeptic

Recycling battery cells requires determining the charge level to see whether the battery can be recycled or reused. To be reused, batteries must be brought to a level of charge sufficient to keep functionality; batteries that will be recycled must be discharged completely. A team of Fraunhofer researchers are now developing a robotic system to automate this process. Battery cells can be reused, industrially reconditioned, or disassembled into their components for further use in other products, so any technologies that can expedite this process and allocate old batteries to their next purpose is in high demand. The robot system sorts and helps prepare the batteries for future use The Fraunhofer project “Automated Circular Economy Plant with Intelligent Discharge and Reconditioning of Battery Cells for a Circular Battery Value Chain – Rob@t2Cell” will run until the end of 2028 and benefits from 5.09 million euros in funding, provided by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR). The system includes automated contacting, intelligent battery characterisation, and real-time decision-making on further use, as well as being …