The H&M Foundation and HKRITA have opened two new recycling facilities in Hong Kong for textile blend recycling that helps the fashion industry take another step forward to circularity.
The two facilities include a miniaturised garment-to-garment recycling system and an award-winning hydrothermal recycling technology facility. These services are the results of the partnership with HKRITA to accelerate research on textile recycling, to speed up the development of a closed loop for textiles, with the purpose to safeguard the planet and our living conditions.
“This is a significant step towards a new fashion industry that operates within the planetary boundaries,” says Erik Bang, innovation lead at the H&M Foundation.
“As we scale up and make this technology freely available to the industry, we will reduce the dependence on limited natural resources to dress a growing global population,” he adds.
Hydrothermal recycling technology
In September 2017 – one year into the four-year-long partnership between HKRITA and the H&M Foundation – HKRITA presented a technological breakthrough with a hydrothermal method for recycling cotton and polyester blends into new fibres. Blends are the most common, yet unrecyclable, type of textile in the world.
One year later, on 3 September 2018, a new pre-industrial size facility scaling this technology was opened at a ceremony joined by the Hon Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-Ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Nicholas W Yang, secretary for innovation and technology of the HKSAR.
The purpose of the facility is to invite fashion brands and stakeholders worldwide to see, test and implement this technology within their own operations. As a non-profit organisation, the H&M Foundation works to drive change for the global fashion industry, which is why HKRITA will licence the results widely to make it available to all and enable a bigger impact.
Miniaturised garment-to-garment recycling system
This recycling system and a retail shop selling the recycled garments has also opened. The system is a mini-scale garment-to-garment production line to recycle post-consumer garments into clean and useful products. It tackles technical challenges of how each process in the entire production line should be configured for operational compatibility within a small space.
Members of the public are encouraged to bring items of their unwanted clothing to the shop, select their preferred style, and then take a new garment home. The G2G shop opens new ways for the traditional textile and fashion industry to interface with consumers and presents possibilities for fresh business models and a new digital fashion business.
“Seeing is believing, and when customers can see with their own eyes what a valuable resource garments at the end of their life can be, they can also believe in recycling and recognising the difference their actions can make,” says Bang.
The garment-to-garment recycling system is the result of a collaboration between HKRITA, the H&M Foundation and Novetex, with the support of the Mills and located at the newly repurposed former textile mill The Mills in Hong Kong.
The technical stuff
The recycling technology consists of chemical and hydrothermal treatments, to recycle cotton and polyester blends into new fabric and yarns. The polyester can be extracted as fibres, ideal for spinning and making new fabrics. The cotton is extracted as cellulose powder and can be applied to functional products or regenerated fibres. HKRITA is now focusing their research on improving the quality of the separated fibres and cellulose powders, to develop more sustainable solutions for the industry. The new facility is located at the Novetex Factory in Tai Po Industrial Estate, Hong Kong.
The partnership
The H&M Foundation initiated the partnership with HKRITA in September 2016. It is backed by an estimated €5.8m of funding, with HKRITA conducting the research and work to commercialise the outcomes. The Innovation and Technology Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government also provides additional substantial funding and support. The total project investment is estimated at around €30m during the four-year collaboration (2016-2020), which makes it one of the biggest and most comprehensive efforts ever for textile recycling.
The investment is made possible through the surplus from the H&M group’s in-store garment collecting programs, which is donated to the H&M Foundation. The H&M Foundation allocates 50% of the total surplus to research on textile recycling and the other 50% to projects focusing on equality and inclusion of marginalised groups.
“After successfully developing revolutionary recycling technologies, we have devoted sustained effort to put them into practice,” says Edwin Keh, chief executive officer, HKRITA. “Our recycling systems represent the industry’s well-applied innovation efforts.
“These not only revitalise a decades-old major industry, but also do it the most sustainably for the benefit of our community and as a responsible global citizen.”
Source: www.wtin.com