{"id":85339,"date":"2024-07-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2024\/07\/11\/a-new-recycling-method-can-break-down-old-clothes-into-useable-polyester\/"},"modified":"2024-07-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T00:00:00","slug":"a-new-recycling-method-can-break-down-old-clothes-into-useable-polyester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2024\/07\/11\/a-new-recycling-method-can-break-down-old-clothes-into-useable-polyester\/","title":{"rendered":"A new recycling method can break down old clothes into useable polyester"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>A team of US researchers have developed a chemical-processing technique that can <\/strong>break down old textiles into reusable polyester<\/strong>, according to a study (pdf)<\/a>. The technique \u2014 called microwave-assisted glycolysis \u2014 can be used to reduce waste in the textile industry where less than 1% of material is recycled and almost 75% ends up in landfills or incinerated. Upon development, the new process could recycle 88% of clothing worldwide, the research concluded. <\/p>\n

How it works:<\/strong> The chemical process can break down 90% of polyester into a molecule called BHET which can be used to make more polyester textiles. The reaction does not impact cotton, which allows polyester-cotton blends to be recycled as well. The process takes around 15 minutes \u2014 a lot more cost-effective than other methods that can take days \u2014 and works on a variety of other textiles including nylon and spandex.<\/span><\/p>\n

Better than mechanical recycling: <\/strong>The chemical processing technique is able to break down fabrics with different compositions which overcomes a problem mechanical recycling techniques encounter where they struggle to separate multi-fibre textiles into reusable products, the study explains. <\/p>\n

They\u2019re still working out the kinks: <\/strong>Some polyester materials \u2014 that are dyed or treated \u2014 produced lower levels of BHET making it harder to recover. The research team is working to optimize the results and reduce the processing time down to mere seconds. <\/p>\n

REMEMBER- Textile waste is a growing problem: <\/strong>Textile waste averages some 4 mn tons<\/a> annually in the EU, and in the US reached 17 mn tons in 2018 \u2014 an 80% increase above levels recorded in 2000. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The process can help reduce waste in the textile industry where less than 1% of material is recycled and almost 75% ends up in landfills<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[11,73,136],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-85339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-your-way-out","tag-enterpriseclimate","tag-on-your-way-out","tag-waste-management","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"eaa33bac-75c8-49f3-a270-bf1c929490cf","order":"8","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2022\/10\/396.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"A new recycling method can break down old clothes into useable polyester","related_issue":[85325],"teaser":"The process can help reduce waste in the textile industry where less than 1% of material is recycled and almost 75% ends up in landfills","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2024\/7\/.d845890e-4452-4ec2-aa42-c484a7791b38.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nA new recycling method can break down old clothes into useable polyester - Climate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2024\/07\/11\/a-new-recycling-method-can-break-down-old-clothes-into-useable-polyester\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A new recycling method can break down old clothes into useable polyester\" \/>\n<meta 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