How To Speed Up The Recycling Of Waste Textiles

"Clothing, food, housing and transportation" is related to people's livelihood. With the increasing recycling of waste textiles, people's living standards are becoming more and more prominent.

Recently, the national development and Reform Commission and relevant departments issued the implementation opinions on accelerating the recycling of waste textiles (fghz [2022] No. 526, hereinafter referred to as the "implementation opinions") to promote the construction of resource recycling industrial system and waste material recycling system, improve resource utilization efficiency and promote the construction of ecological civilization, It is of great significance to help achieve the goal of carbon peak carbon neutralization.

Why do we need to accelerate recycling?

According to the data, China is the largest textile and clothing producer and consumer in the world. The total amount of textile fiber processing accounts for more than 50% of the world. The total fiber consumption is about 30 million tons per year, and the per capita fiber consumption is about 22.4 kg, basically reaching the level of medium developed countries, resulting in a large number of waste textiles.

With the completion of the "well-off society" for three years, the people's concept of mending clothes will be greatly shortened Zhao Kai, executive vice president of China Recycling Economy Association, said that in 2020, the output of waste textiles will be about 22 million tons, the recycling rate will be about 20%, and the output of recycled fiber from waste textiles will be about 1.5 million tons. There is still a large space for improvement in the recycling capacity and level of waste textiles.

According to sun Huaibin, vice president of China Textile Industry Federation, due to the constraints of system mechanism, recycling system, sorting method, technology and standards, China's recycled fiber raw materials are mainly PET bottle pieces and industrial textile waste, and the number of used clothing fabrics from urban and rural residents is small, and the overall recycling efficiency of waste textiles is low.

"With the global fashion industry achieving the goal of replacing recycled materials by 2030, the demand for recycled fiber raw materials will grow rapidly in the future. It is urgent to improve the recycling rate of waste textiles and the output of recycled fibers in China, build a recycling system of waste textile resources, and promote the development of related industries." Sun Huaibin said.

Sun Huaibin also said that at present, 80% of textiles are chemical fiber products, and chemical fibers cannot be naturally degraded. Therefore, the recycling of waste textiles can play a positive role in saving resources (oil, land, etc.) and protecting the environment, and solve the problem of idle and waste of old clothes and fabrics in people's homes. However, at present, China's waste textile recycling and industrial recycling system can not effectively connect, resulting in a large number of residents' old clothes can not be recycled.

What is the environmental significance of recycling waste textiles?

6 kg of waste chemical fertilizer, 3.0 kg / kg of chemical fertilizer can be used to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by 1.0 kg. The recycling of waste textiles can not only improve the efficiency of resource utilization and solve the shortage of textile raw materials, but also help to save land resources, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and protect the ecological environment.

According to the development goals put forward in the "implementation opinions", by 2025, the recycling rate of waste textiles will reach 25%, and the output of recycled fiber of waste textiles will reach 2 million tons. By 2030, the recycling rate of waste textiles will reach 30%, and the output of recycled fibers from waste textiles will reach 3 million tons. The achievement of the goal is of great significance to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and save energy and resources.

It is reported that the recycling of waste textiles at home and abroad is mainly in the form of fine waste classification, setting up recycling bins, establishing special collection centers, and enterprise buyback. The utilization methods mainly include charitable donation, second-hand clothing sales (including export), and recycling.

How to put waste textiles into circulation by classification?

Efficient use of waste textiles is not only conducive to promoting the reduction of domestic waste sources, but also conducive to the development of society towards green and low-carbon. It is self-evident that the state attaches great importance to the recycling of waste textiles. We should actively respond to the call of the government and do a good job of classification and recycling.

How to ensure the safe recycling of waste textiles?

This problem has always plagued the process of recycling in various industries. In the past, the so-called recycling was on the basis of the lowest level, equivalent to garbage treatment. Waste textiles are broken and then spun, the process pollution is serious, and even worse, decolorization and bleaching, serious pollution emissions, product quality is too poor, can only do some low-grade products, low-cost, not to mention the development of new technology and products.

In recent years, major brands and organizations around the world have done a lot of work in the aspect of sustainable development and recycling, and more new technologies have been developed. For example, the environment-friendly bionic cotton cotton cotton coton-sim developed by Zengye textile technology studio is to recycle old plastic bottles and reproduce colorful fabrics without dyeing, and then adopt silk softening process and physical antibacterial treatment. The whole production process does not need water and chemicals, It has no secondary pollution.

The other product is to recycle the stored fabric, which is endowed with new color by over-dye technology. It turns into a new product. The process does not need water. It is also treated by physical antibacterial technology. It can obtain the second life and become more environmental friendly and healthy at the same time.

Organizations like Zengye textile technology studio are working hard to develop various technologies around the world to promote textile recycling on the premise of safety and pollution-free The direction of sustainable development is advancing.

Textile recycling Sustainable development projects must be supported by the state, encourage investment in research and development of various technologies, standardize the production process, formulate product standards, and set the direction of recycling and reprocessing after use, so as to truly achieve the effect of sustainable regeneration.