#Recycling / Circular Economy

2022-05-12

Love at first sight: OnceMore® by Södra and Rester announce a new partnership bringing change to the circular textile scene in the Nordic market

Rester Ltd was founded in 2019 and today has the largest mechanical textile recycling center of its kind in Northern Europe. This collaboration is to play an important role in growing OnceMore® by Södra towards its target of processing 25,000 tpy of textile waste by 2025.

Södra and Rester are launching a partnership that has a wider impact beyond these two companies. The collaboration brings synergies and provides a hub in Sweden for collecting all different kind of recyclable business textiles. These will then be processed and distributed to best possible and suitable streams of raw material for the textile industry, thereby closing the loop for business textiles. The new hub will be based in the Gothenburg area. At this hub Rester is providing an efficient collection point for all the clients, new and existing ones, in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Furthermore, closing the loop for textile is in line with the proposal for EU textile strategy, that will have major affects to material flows in next few years.

“Our collaboration and a joined goal with Södra gives us multiple possibilities to widen our end-of-life-textile services to cover Sweden, Denmark and Norway. This is an important milestone for us and for the whole Scandinavian textile industry towards circularity. Replacing virgin raw materials with recycled ones will become fast “a new normal” empowered by regulation, but at this stage forerunners such as Södra and Rester have an important role in the transition in textile industry. The movement will happen fast and working towards systemic change requires partners who are willing to share their expertise and who are ready to put effort into the task. Södra has a versatile, fantastically well organized business and I see their determination to keep materials in circulation as an essential fuel towards new, circular era. We are truly proud to be along as a partner in the narrative of “Once more – closing the loop for textile waste”, rejoices Outi Luukko, CEO of Rester Ltd.

Environment:

Around 90 million tonnes of textiles are disposed annually worldwide and textile industry accounts for 10% percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Within Rester process, for every tonne of recycled fibre produced, 525 thousand liters of water and 3700 kg of CO2 are saved, compared to producing completely new textile fibers.

“Production is a product”

From technical textiles and AI-driven robotics to the limitations of textile circularity: Professor Dr Thomas Gries looks back on more than two decades of development at ITA Aachen. In the interview, he explains why production technology remains a decisive success factor, discusses international collaborations and innovation ecosystems, and shares his views on the transformation of production landscapes and the challenges facing an increasingly regulated industry.

“We need to move away from the price trap and return to a value-driven mindset.”

With its new Textile Innovation Center, KARL MAYER is sending a strong signal for innovation, collaboration, and the future of textile applications. In this interview, Karl Josef Mayer discusses new opportunities in warp knitting, the processing of staple fibres, recycling, the changing role of machinery manufacturers, and why the textile industry must once again focus more strongly on the value of textiles. by Oliver Schmidt

“Innovation, resilience and international experience remain the great strengths of the Swiss textile machinery industry”

Geopolitical uncertainty, growing competitive pressure from China, new free trade agreements and the shift towards a circular economy are currently reshaping the global textile industry. In this interview, Cornelia Buchwalder discusses the current mood within the Swiss textile machinery sector, the industry’s distinctive innovative strength, new market opportunities in India and Asia, and the technological trends that could shape the upcoming trade fair cycle leading up to ITMA 2027.

HKRITA signs MoU with Jeanologia and Looptworks to establish the Green Machine Circular Textile Ecosystem

The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) yesterday officially signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two key global partners, Jeanologia and Looptworks, to establish the Green Machine Circular Textile Ecosystem – a first-of-its-kind collaboration to accelerate the large-scale recycling of blended textiles.

Object Carpet tests production of rPET BCF yarn on Neumag BCF line

In a joint project with Object Carpet GmbH, Denkendorf; the Institute for Textile Technology (ITA), Augsburg; and Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen GmbH (NGR), Feldkirchen, Austria, Barmag investigated the processing of recycled polyester for BCF yarn. The goal was to evaluate the fundamental suitability of 100% recycled carpet material for reuse in carpet yarn production to create a closed-loop system in carpet manufacturing. To date, commercial rPET BCF processes have been based solely on rPET from bottle pellets.

Albany International reports progress with Cyclezyme on industrial textile recycling project

Albany International Corp. (NYSE:AIN) reports continued progress in the ongoing project with Cyclezyme AB, a leader in advanced enzyme-based plastic recycling, based in Sweden. The project exemplifies leading edge innovation in materials science, focusing on the development of enzyme-based recycling of industrial textiles primarily consisting of polyester and polyamide, where there is currently a significant lack of effective solutions for circular material flows. The objective of the project is to establish enzymatic processes for depolymerization and recycling of technical textiles and high-performance industrial materials.

EDANA announces five new board members following 2026 Annual General Meeting

The EDANA Board of Governors is elected or re-elected at the Annual General Meeting by the member companies. The Governors are senior executives (business leaders) from member companies, based in different countries and representing different sectors of the nonwovens industry. The Board has central responsibility for guiding EDANA's overall strategy and approving its policies and priorities. It meets three times a year.

Cotton made in Africa partners receive top marks in independent verifications

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) and CmiA Organic are two internationally recognised standards that aim to promote sustainable development in the African cotton sector south of the Sahara. To ensure the standards’ credibility among brands, retailers, and consumers, independent verifiers evaluate compliance on the ground. The verification results for 2025, now published in the Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report, were very strong: The verifiers awarded consistently very good remarks regarding management, people, prosperity, and the environment.

Bangladesh: Italian textile machinery mission stops in Dhaka and Chittagong

Technological upgrading and the transition toward higher value-added production are driving the new Italian industrial mission to Bangladesh. This year, the mission will split between the country’s two main manufacturing hubs, where Italian manufacturers will meet the leaders of the local textile supply chain in two strategic stages: July 7th in Dhaka and July 9th in Chittagong.