Recycling textile waste: from fabrics to mattress
Two new consortia have been constituted in Italy, aiming to improve the management of textile waste in terms of recycling and reuse: they are respectively named Ecoremat and Ecotessili.
Businesses belonging to the Federdistribuzione association have started two new projects of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) within the Ecolight System framework of recycling mattress, clothing, fabrics and other textile waste.
Image curtesy of inhabitat.com
Starting January 1st, 2022, ahead of the European agenda, textile waste management in Italy will fall within the EPR regulation, thus involving manufacturers, importers and distributors. According to a Eu-Commision report, every European citizen produces 11 kg of textile waste every year.
Almost 87% of this waste piles up in landfills, gets incinerated or exported to extra-Eu countries. The European goal is to lower this waste by about 10%.
Image curtesy of recyclemymattress.com
Mattresses show a particularly interesting potential, since 90% of the material mass used in their manufacturing could be recycled. Suddenly, most of them end their life cycle in landfills.
“Our key reference are businesses, that are currently asked to play an active role in the context of circular economy and shall thus respond to that extended producer responsibility that is increasingly becoming a standard in environmental protection” these are the statements of Giancarlo Dezio, president of Ecoremat and Ecotessili.