CISUTAC Newsletter

Unlocking the Future of Sustainable Textiles: Navigating Europe's Circular Revolution

In March 2022, the European Commission embarked on a transformative journey for textiles with its EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, aiming, among other, to revolutionise waste management and consumption habits in Europe's textile industry. As part of the CISUTAC project, RISE and Centexbel (with the support of other partners) released a comprehensive report titled "Circular Transition Scenarios & Software for Post-Consumer Textile Waste Channelling" that serves as a guiding compass, offering insights into various pathways for Europe's textile industry to achieve a circular future.

Through four scenarios, CISUTAC paints vibrant portraits of potential futures for the textile ecosystem, from a global shift towards sustainable fashion to disruptive subscription models redefining consumption norms. These scenarios are tools offering foresight for decision-makers and empowering stakeholders to chart their course amidst Europe's circular revolution.

The report also introduces a game-changing decision support tool, tailor-made for post-consumer textile waste management. By focusing on critical data points like condition, product construction, and recycled content, this tool unlocks the potential to optimise waste sorting and recycling processes, by understanding the main datapoints and principles for channelling routes, and the potential of the Digital Product Passport in the sorting process.

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CISUTAC at the European Parliament

In November 2023, CISUTAC organised an event at the European Parliament to shed light on the crucial role of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as a cornerstone in the new EU regulations aimed at fostering a sustainable and competitive European circular textile industry. During the event, we presented CISUTAC's shared vision on EPR, encompassing repair, reuse, and eventual recycling, contributing to a more sustainable and circular textile ecosystem.

Towards better zipper repair

CISUTAC project partners Decathlon Italia, PCH Innovations, STAM, TEXAID and Kringwinkel have been working on a modular, semi-automated concept that can adapt to different processes and materials, allowing operators to work on zipper repair efficiently. Recently, Decathlon Italia visited the zipper repair workstation developed in the premises of PCH Innovations, in Germany.

Moving forward with CISUTAC’s sorting pilot

In February 2024, CISUTAC partners Wargön Innovation, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Global Textile Scheme, STAM, and Centexbel visited TEXAID's sorting plant in Apolda, Germany. Following an insightful tour of the sorting facility, partners engaged in a workshop to delve into the upcoming sorting pilot within CISUTAC.

Repair days for CISUTAC!

Partners Kringwinkel and Wageningen University & Research organised repair days in four Kringwinkel stores in Belgium. During these days, customers had the opportunity to repair their clothes for free. They also filled a survey to help CISUTAC gain insights into their knowledge and willingness to repair on a more regular basis.

CISUTAC at the New Cotton Project workshop

In March 2024, EURATEX presented CISUTAC's shared vision on EPR at the New Cotton Project policy workshop in Brussels. EURATEX emphasised on the significance of harmonisation, robust partnerships, and effective enforcement to establish a well-functioning system for textile waste management.

ECOSYSTEX, the European Community of Practice for a Sustainable Textile Ecosystem, launched in early 2023, counts now 30 EU-funded member projects.

Since our previous newsletter issue, we welcomed 4 new projects focusing on textile sustainability!

SAVE THE DATE: 2nd ECOSYTEX Conference

📢 Get ready for the 2nd ECOSYSTEX conference, happening on 15-16 October 2024, in the vibrant city of Milan, Italy!

Mark your calendars for two days of insightful discussions, networking, and collaboration. Here's what you can expect:

Day 1 - ECOSYSTEX Conference: Engage in thought-provoking plenary sessions, and interactive workshops, organised by ECOSYSTEX member projects, that are tailored to address the latest trends and challenges in our field.
Day 2 - Final Events of TRICK & My-Fi Project: Join us as we celebrate the culmination of the TRICK & My-Fi projects with exciting final events. TRICK focusses on traceability & the DPP. My-Fi on the development of alternative biobased materials.

Registrations will open in late Spring/early Summer, so stay tuned via ECOSYSTEX’s LinkedIn or News Alerts for further updates!

The ECOSYSTEX Insights Series continues!

Are you interested in learning more about the projects that make the ECOSYSTEX community?

Join us on 31 May from 10:00 to 11:30 CET, as the CISUTAC project will present its 2035 future scenarios and the textile waste decision support tool. The CALIMERO project will also present how they are going beyond the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment methodology. We will also welcome the SCIRT and Hemp4Circularity projects who will discuss their project developments.

Register for the ECOSYTEX Insight Series #9

Since our last newsletter issues, two other dissemination webinars have already been organised, presenting the different projects that make the ECOSYSTEX community, their objectives and outcomes. If you could not join us for these events or if you would like to watch them again, the recordings are available below:

ECOSYSTEX Membership is open to running European-funded projects focusing on textile sustainability and circularity, or concluded projects meeting the same criteria. For more information about the membership, contact Textile ETP.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No. 101060375.

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