Textile
Recycling
Project 

In my project management course taken at Malmö University in winter of 2023, my group chose to capitalize on the proximity of SIPTex, the world's first automated textile sorting machine, which is located in Malmö, Sweden. We built a project proposal for a clothing recycling program in order to build capacity at Siptex for clothing sorting. 

The linear take-make-waste model for clothing consumption is broken. 4.3 million tons of clothing and other textile waste end up in landfills or are incinerated annually in the European Union alone. Fast-fashion has increased this waste crisis and the need for circularity in the fashion industry is urgent and past due. The impact of the environment is tangible; if we were to use all textile products currently in use twice through resale, we could reduce the impact on climate by 47 percent. 

To increase the amount of clothing entering the circular cycle of fashion consumption, this project aims to collect unneeded clothing and textiles from Malmö University's students and faculty otherwise destined for the waste stream. Addressing Sustainable Development Goal 12 "Responsible consumption and production," we seek to run a 13-month collection program hosted on the university's campus to raise awareness about clothing waste and offer a second chance for clothing. 

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Clothing from the collection point will be delivered sustainably to Sysav's recycling facility in Malmö where it will be exported for primary round sorting to separate clothing appropriate for the second hand market and eventually returned to the Siptex facility for automated sorting by color and fiber type. Sorted clothing is then sold to companies like Renewcell and Recover, who process it into recycled fibers for new clothing creating one driver of the circular fashion solution.