CISUTAC Newsletter

A Deep Dive into Circular Textile Business Models

As concerns over textile waste continue to grow, the CISUTAC project partner RREUSE released a crucial new report, “Unlocking Opportunities for Circular Business Models in Textiles: Phasing out Linearity”. Released in September 2024, this report provides a comprehensive overview of the current repair, reuse, and recycling systems across the EU, revealing both the challenges and opportunities within the circular textile economy.

The report explores the challenges faced by circular business models: while they strive to overcome the issues of linear systems, such as waste and overproduction, they must navigate high initial costs and limited infrastructure. It also presents actionable policy recommendations aimed at overcoming these barriers, including advice to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes and increased support for innovative solutions.

Through insights from a stakeholder survey highlighting key priorities for scaling circular models, the report emphasizes the need for enhanced collaboration across the value chain, greater financial incentives, and more robust consumer engagement to drive the circular economy forward.

Read the full article

CISUTAC discusses mid-project results at 6th General Assembly

In October 2024, CISUTAC partners met in Turin, Italy to share among the consortium the latest updates about CISUTAC. We heard about the significant advancement in advanced repair and disassembly workstations, and discussed the upcoming data guide for DPP, which will take the form of a digital platform with matching data collection and data exchange. The meeting was also an opportunity to visit Decathlon Italy's warehouse, where we had the chance to witness first-hand the CISUTAC zipper repair workstation in action: from issue-identifying scans to zipper removal and resewing!

CISUTAC at the ECOSYSTEX Conference 2024

In October 2024 at the ECOSYSTEX Conference in Milan, Italy, project partners from EURATEX and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden presented CISUTAC’s latest developments from the project, EURATEX discussed CISUTAC shared visions that explore different elements of circularity and advises on strategic directions, whereas RISE showcased the software for post-consumer textile waste channelling that serve as a guiding compass, offering insights into various pathways for Europe's textile industry to achieve a circular future.

CISUTAC on a mission to close the loop for PPE

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of PCH Innovations and STAM, with insights from Sioen Industries and Kringwinkel Antwerpen, CISUTAC developed a semi-automated workstation to disassemble firefighter suits, making this otherwise labour-intensive process feasible. This innovative workstation was delivered to the Kringwinkel Antwerpen facilities in late Spring 2024. This technology has proven effective in retrieving high-value aramid fabric and prepping it for recycling. Together with Centexbel, partners will analyse the fibre composition and identify potential routes for reuse and recycling.

CISUTAC at HEREWEAR’s final event in Berlin

In June 2024, CISUTAC partners from Kringwinkel Antwerpen and Textile ETP presented CISUTAC's firefighter suit disassembly workstation and objectives at the HEREWEAR final event in Berlin, Germany! Both were invited as part of the ECOSYSTEX community, in which both CISUTAC and HEREWEAR are members. This event was an occasion to mark the conclusion of HEREWEAR's four-year journey towards creating sustainable, local, and bio-based textile solutions, and to meet with other ECOSYSTEX fellow members

ECOSYSTEX, the European Community of Practice for a Sustainable Textile Ecosystem, launched in early 2023, counts now 42 EU-funded member projects.

Since our previous newsletter issue, we welcomed 12 new projects focusing on textile sustainability!

Second ECOSYSTEX Conference: A Milestone for Sustainable Textile Innovation and Traceability

On 15-17 October 2024 took place the ECOSYSTEX conference in Milan, Italy, where industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers came together to discuss the final results of 4 European projects - TRICK , HEREWEAR, my-fi and SCIRT - and more broadly the role of EU research in creating a sustainable circular textile supply chains.

The event started with updates from the European Commission on the latest regulations, including the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, and Horizon Europe opportunities for 2025-2027. The conference then featured not only interactive sessions on digital product passports, sustainable materials, and circular business models. The engaging discussions, throughout the workshops, panels and exhibition, sparked lively debates on how to advance circularity in textiles, from bio-based materials to local manufacturing models.

The conference wrapped up with an exclusive tour of Accenture Customer Innovation Network, and with a visit of Decathlon's warehouse in Basiano, where participants got to eye-witness innovative and circular solutions.

Read the highlights of the conference

The ECOSYSTEX Insights Series continues!

Are you interested in learning more about the ECOSYSTEX community?

Join us on Friday 8 November 2024, 10:00-11:00 CET for the first public dissemination webinar of ECOSYSTEX technical working groups (TGs). In the TGs experts from across Europe that work in EU-funded projects on textile sustainability and circularity come together to exchange knowledge and collaborate.

ECOSYSTEX TG2 on Assessment of Different Recycling Technologies & End-of-Life Options will present an update of their efforts related to, firstly, collecting a list of relevant publications and reports about textile recycling technologies and, secondly, making an overview of current and emerging textile recycling technologies and EoL options.

ECOSYSTEX TG4 on Renewable Materials & Standards will present what they have worked on during 2024, namely an overview of the availability of renewable materials and standards for testing, characterising and evaluating them.

Register for the ECOSYSTEX Insights Series Special Edition

Discover the upcoming ECOSYSTEX events

Since our last newsletter issues, three 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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