International Standard: ASTM Issued A Report To Analyze The Requirements Of Circular Textile Standards

In November 2024, the American ASTM issued the Seminar Report on the Requirements of Recycled Textile Standards. The report mainly discusses the challenges faced by the textile industry in the process of transition to a circular economy, the role of standards and the specific areas of standards required.

The textile market is huge, but the linear production and consumption mode leads to resource waste and serious environmental problems, such as the increase of textile waste year by year and low recovery rate. The transition to a circular economy is confronted with many challenges, such as the complexity of textile waste, lack of consumer awareness, high cost recovery technology, society and economy. Standard requirements to support recycled textiles include:

1. Terminology standard

To promote interoperability among stakeholders, it is necessary to integrate different organizational resources, define terms such as "retro" and "second-hand", refer to relevant organizational definitions and coordinate with existing documents to establish a common language foundation.

2. Textile sorting and grading standards

Sorting is critical to the circular economy, but it faces challenges such as manual sorting limitations, difficulty in identifying fiber types, labeling problems, and interference components.

Standards such as best practices for handling interference components in the recycling process, methods for testing mixed materials, grading and classification guidelines, and labeling specifications need to be developed to ensure the quality and efficiency of recycling and promote stakeholder collaboration.

3. Textile recycling standard

Recycling faces technical challenges, such as removing interfering substances, separating mixed materials, ensuring the quality of raw materials and reducing costs, and the actual purchase of recycled materials is inconsistent with the commitment.

It is necessary to establish best practices for removing interfering substances and pollutants, test methods for recycling mixed materials, standards for tracking the source of materials and reporting the content of recycling, so as to achieve transparent and effective recycling.

4. Standards of brand and design in promoting circulation

Recycling should be incorporated into brand values, and circular consumption should be promoted through design and consumer education. The industry needs circular design guidelines.

It is necessary to consider balancing garment durability and recyclability, promoting data sharing and feedback cycle, and formulating standards such as material specifications, durability testing methods, EoL consideration guidelines, etc.

5. Digital Product Passport (DPP) Standard

DPP can improve textile recyclability, but it faces challenges such as data protection, cost, storage and interoperability.

Collaboration and pilot projects need to be established, and standards such as data format, exchange protocol, information specification and privacy protection need to be developed to ensure data integrity and effective use.

(Source: website of Ministry of Commerce)