VTT and Aalto University help transform textile waste into consumer products
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Aalto University are participating in an EU project that is recycling and developing high-performance fibres.
The Trash-2-Cash project seeks to stem the flow of three million tonnes of textiles that are thrown away in the EU every year.
“Turning unwanted textiles into raw materials for new textiles using ecological technologies provides an opportunity for revolutionising European textile manufacturing and trade,” says VTT‘s research professor Ali Harlin.
Trash-2-Cash is bringing together designers, researchers, materials suppliers and textile producers from all over Europe. The project seeks to harness techniques that can be used to spin, knit, sew or design innovative high-quality products from used textile fibres.
VTT and Aalto University are developing ecological and efficient techniques together. The project involves developing techniques for pre-processing and washing waste textiles, separating fibres, and fiberisation.
The overall aim of the project is to find new markets and uses for recycled textile fibres.
Trash-2-Cash ends in December 2018.