The recycling of textiles in Europe is becoming more efficient, and municipalities in Finland must organize regional collections of textile waste as early as January 1st in 2023. Cost-effective collection and sorting processes as well as versatile utilization of collected materials are key factors in achieving successful circular economy for textile materials. Since waste textile collection is still new for both consumers and other operators, comprehensive communication and guidance is needed to create efficient circular models for the textile materials.
Objectives
The goal of the Mextile project is to find and create models for sorting, collecting, and processing of waste textile materials to best suit the area of Southern Savonia. The project will pilot the most promising models in practice to gain valuable experience. It is important to promote the transition towards textile circularity in the region of Southern Savonia to increase the recycling rate of these materials. With cooperation of companies and other stakeholders, new innovative product development is carried out and studied to find viable solutions for the reuse of the different textile materials. Building new business cases in collaboration with companies, will strengthen the region’s competitiveness.
Implementation
The Mextile project is structured around five Work Packages (WP1–WP5)
- WP 1: An effective collection model for end-of-life textiles
- WP 2: Innovative sorting models for end-of-life textiles – through demonstrations towards practice
- WP 3: New openings – product innovations of the collected textiles
- WP 4: Development of business to exploit the use of end-of-life textiles
- WP 5: Communication and publication
IMPACTS
To succeed in the transition of textile circularity in the area, it will be vital for the project partners to have extensive cooperation also with other stakeholders such as associations, organizations, and educational institutions. Implementing the recycling of textiles among consumers calls for versatile communication actions and involving them in the planning processes. Studying consumer experiences help develop practical and comprehensible textile collection models. Also, through consumer guidance and communications, the quality and quantity of collected textiles may be enhanced.
