Upcycling of post-production textile waste regardless of textile/fabrics composition

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

When fabric rolls are laid out for cutting in factories, the off-cuts are set aside as scraps.

If not sorted or organised, the waste can consist of different materials (cotton, polyester, CVC, TC or any other contents). The typical practice of factories is to dispose of the waste post-production to waste handlers for consolidation.

Fabric scraps can be re-used commercially in areas such as composite materials like mattress fillings, but in these cases they are effectively down-cycled. In some instances, they are used as feedstock to run boilers, but it is a pollutive process.

We are looking for solutions to recycle and/or upcycle our textile waste into higher value novel resources.

At this moment, the current recycling/upcycling process of textile waste faces the following key challenges:

1. Recycling/upcycling of collected textile waste is challenging because of the impurity of the contents. It is therefore essential for solution providers to also provide capabilities to sort the waste, as it will consist of various fibres and textiles.
2. Fabric scraps that are not recycled end up in incineration plants and landfills
3. Currently, waste streams are not well-managed, so there are no opportunities to track circularity of the various waste streams.
4. Additionally, factories are not motivated to sort the scraps by content because it requires additional effort and time.

Currently, we generate the following estimated wastage per country:

1. Vietnam: 40tons/month
2. China: 50tons/month
3. Cambodia: 45tons/month

Ideally, we would be looking to reduce this volume by at least 30% (or more).

Based on the aforementioned background of the problem, we are looking for solutions with two potential routes to market:

1. Full recycling solutions for our textile waste with the aim of re-utilising the textile waste directly back into our business. In this scenario, we would be open to consider becoming the end-customer
2. Recycling solutions to repurpose our textile waste into novel applications for new markets. Examples could include: FabBRICK, Green Ceramics and Fabric-Formed Concrete.

Solutions and their limitations:

1. Currently, there are no machines to sort fabric based on their content, thus all types/content of fabric get mixed together.
2. There is limited technology or options to convert this textile waste into other useful products.
3. Factories are manually sorting the fabric scraps and sending them to waste handlers or recyclers to manage.

Solution we are not interested in:

1. We are not interested in solutions that would require significant revamps and/or overhauls of our entire internal production process. We are, however, willing to consider adding an additional process step for waste sorting, as long as the additional investment is manageable.
2. We do not want to create additional waste to produce or recycle into something else.
3. Additionally, the focus of Teo-garment is on upcycling (i.e. converting textile waste into novel value). As a consequence, we are not interested in applications that would be considered down-cycling (such as using textile scraps for cushion-filling).

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS / PERFORMANCE CRITERIA:

There are two routes to market for solution providers:

Route to market 1: Full recycling solutions for our textile waste with the aim of re-utilising the textile waste directly back into our business. In this scenario, we would be open to consider becoming the end-customer.

For this route to market, we would be looking at the following technical requirements and performance criteria to evaluate solutions on a case-by-case basis:

• Material Cost
• Consistency of fibres/textile composition
• Comfortable for wearing and meet basic home laundry requirement of up to 15 washes, such as colour fastness and shrinkage
• Fabric waste reduction (target of at least 30%)
• Fabric can be recycled again (optional).

Route to market 2: Recycling solutions to repurpose our textile waste into novel applications for new markets. Examples could include: FabBRICK, Green Ceramics and Fabric-Formed Concrete.

Specific performance criteria and technical requirements would have to be co-defined here with the end-customer for the specific application.

Performance Criteria:

COST TARGET

For route-to-market 1: re-utilisation into our business

We would be open to consider up to a 20% increase in cost for the fibres/textiles if the material properties meet our requirements and if we are able to meet our sustainability targets.

For route-to-market 2: novel applications for our waste:

Cost targets are to be determined together with the potential end-customer

TIMEFRAME FOR DEVELOPMENT

Phase 1: PoC or Pilot

Phase 2: Further commercial roll-out to be discussed on a case-by-case basis

POTENTIAL MARKET / BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Route-to-market 1: We believe that other factories will be interested to adopt the solution afterwards. Hence, there is potential for a global market roll-out. In this scenario and in case the solution proves its efficacy, Teo-Garment is willing to potentially procure the solution.

Route to market 2: Recycling solutions to repurpose our textile waste into novel applications for new markets. Examples could include: FabBRICK, Green Ceramics and Fabric-Formed Concrete. In this scenario, Teo-Garments can help to bring the solution to market but will not be the end-customer to procure the solution.

Dependent on market application and use case.

RESOURCES

1. Cash price for winning project of S$10,000
2. Additional in-kind contributions for PoC or Pilots can be considered on case-by-case basis

Contact / source: Enterprise Singapore Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge - Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge 2022 (innovation-challenge.sg)