Textile Collection, Sorting & Recycling: The challenges we need to overcome

How can Europe build a commercially viable circular textile system?

In this episode, Louisa Hoyes, who has worked on building up textile circularity for the past 7 years, explains why building a circular textile system requires much more than advances in recycling technology.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why collection, sorting and recycling should be designed as one connected value chain rather than separate industries.
• The commercial challenges of scaling textile circularity, including infrastructure investment, feedstock quality, demand for recycled fibres, and business model innovation.
• How Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) can accelerate investment, improve traceability, and support fibre-to-fibre recycling.

The episode also covers emerging recycling technologies, collaboration across the textile value chain, and the expected timeline for scaling Europe’s textile circularity infrastructure.

Video Impression

People

Louisa Hoyes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-hoyes/

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
03:20 How today’s textile collection, sorting and recycling business models work
07:58 A vision for the circular textile system in 2040
10:37 Commercial barriers to scaling textile circularity
14:28 Building demand for recycled fibres
17:02 Sorting technologies and feedstock quality
20:40 How EPR can accelerate textile circularity
23:56 Collaboration across the textile value chain
26:49 When will textile circularity reach commercial scale?
28:24 Closing reflections

About

TOMRA develops sensor-based sorting technologies that improve resource recovery across multiple industries, including recycling, mining and food. Within the textile sector, TOMRA works on automated sorting solutions that enable high-quality fibre recovery and support the transition towards a circular textile value chain.

Further Links

Connect to Louisa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louisa-hoyes/

Transcript

[00:00:00] Introduction

Patrick Hypscher: Welcome back to episode four of our Textile EPR series. Last week I talked to Alexander Sustal about the legal aspects of the EPR system. Today we have a closer look at collection, sorting, and recycling. I’m really happy that we found an expert who is deeply involved in the subject without necessarily being invested in any of the companies or stages. If you want to get the summary of this conversation, sign up for the circularity.fm newsletter. You can find it at www.circularity.fm.

Patrick Hypscher: She studied environmental science and started her career at Veolia in London to drive improvements in recycling participation. In 2019, she joined TOMRA’s sorting unit with a focus on textiles. And one and a half years ago, she got appointed as Segment Director Textiles. Welcome, Louisa.

Louisa Hoyes: Thank you, Patrick. Really happy to be here. Thanks for the invitation.

Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, it’s really awesome to have you here and your perspective on the topic of textile EPR. Before we dive into that topic, I have a personal question. And this is, of course, about fashion and textiles. So if you take a look in your wardrobe, which is one of the most sustainable items of clothing you have in there?

Louisa Hoyes: I think that must be a checkered dress I have. It’s 100% cotton and it’s a checkered dress. And I think it’s the most sustainable because it is definitely the most worn piece of textile or clothing that I have. And after working so long now in the textile industry, I often think of cost per wear of garment. So there’s the actual cost that you pay for it in the shop, but then how many times do you wear it? And each time you wear it, the cost per wear decreases. So I think that one is definitely the most worn garment. It’s the most versatile. It can be put with tights in the winter. I can wear it in the summer. It just immediately comes to mind because I’ve worn it so much, and it must be 12 to 15 years old.

Patrick Hypscher: It sounds like the opposite of fast fashion. And yeah, Louisa, you have quite some experience in the textile sector from the past years, and what I like about your perspective is that you’re not necessarily deeply invested in any of the companies or functions, the collectors, the sorters, the recyclers. So maybe to start with, also connecting it to the questions I asked to Schöffel and also Decathlon, I mean, if you look at the collectors, the sorters, recyclers, what’s basically their core business model?

[00:03:20] How today’s textile collection, sorting and recycling business models work

Louisa Hoyes: Yes. So if we start with the collectors, their core business model is traditionally collecting in textiles for reuse. So they tends to be dominated by the charity sector, collecting in textiles for reuse and generating value from donations or gathering in particularly secondhand home textiles and reselling them, so getting the reuse value from them. However, as we’ve seen the last years, that business model is being severely impacted by fast and ultra fast fashion. So the quantity and the value of clothing is really decreasing, which means their business model is struggling. They’re collecting a lot more textiles, but the value and the usability of those textiles is decreasing, so they’re, they’re suffering a bit at the moment. Then if we look at the sorters, traditionally sorters would be manual hand sorter. After you’ve collected in the secondhand waste textiles, you manually sort it into reuse grades, what can be sold locally, what could be exported and sold on different markets. And then now a new piece in the, in the new circular economy for textiles is the sorters sorting for recycling. So looking at fiber type, color composition, sorting into a high purity grade that goes into recycling. So the business model for traditional sorters will be hand sorting out valuable items for resale, and now seeing their business model will basically be upgrading a waste fraction of textile. So taking in mixed waste textiles with all sorts of different kinds of post-consumer textiles, a cotton t-shirt, cotton jeans, and sorting out the high quality, high value, high purity fibers that could go then into recycling. And then the business model for the recycler is taking the raw material product that’s been sorted and then also upgrading it, so recycling it into a product that can then be sold to go to be recycled and to be used again. So fiber-to-fiber recycling. So the business model of each, the sorter, the collector, the recycler, is quite clear, but the complexity comes around now. It’s not just a supply chain that we’re creating now for circularity. It’s not just bending the linear economy into a circle. It’s creating a new economy and it’s creating a new value chain. So while each of the business model for collecting, sorting, recycling is clear on their own, the business model that we’re trying to create now is seeing the value for collection, sorting and recycling together. So it really takes business model innovation to make sure that it’s economically viable for each part of that value chain.

Patrick Hypscher: I was also about to ask, because the way I asked the question of course, and you started, suggests that collection, sorting and recycling is already now separate. But I can imagine, when listening to what you basically said, that the collection and the sorting, that normally goes together. Or is it something like in the status quo or in the past years? Is it something that you can really distinguish and most players either do collection or sorting?

Louisa Hoyes: So with the traditional value chain that we have already implemented, you have collection for reuse, you have sorting for reuse. But what we’re now building for the circular economy for textiles is the new parts of that infrastructure. So collection not only for reuse, but also collecting the recycled grade textiles. And not only for reuse, so following the waste hierarchy, we want to make sure that they’re reused, repurposed, remanufactured, repaired first before they’re recycled. But now absolutely, where does the sorting for recycling take place? So making sure collection incorporates collection for recycling. Where does the infrastructure now sit for sorting for recycling? We imagine those two parts of the new value chain will sit as close to the source of the waste as possible.

Patrick Hypscher: And now if we fast forward and look a bit into the future, because I mean, we’re talking about EPR textiles and the ambition is to fix some of the problems you mentioned so that this system, which seemed to be not designed, but at least seemed to have settled for reuse and the system is challenged since a couple of years, and it helps to have a certain target picture in mind. So from your personal view, how should the textile and apparel system look like in 2040?

[00:07:58] A vision for the circular textile system in 2040

Louisa Hoyes: I think one thing that comes to mind first that I would wish for in 2040 is that we are not talking about textile waste, but talking about textile as a resource. So not just thinking about the negativity around producing textile as a waste, but really it’s a valuable resource. Those textiles that can’t be used anymore, how can we make sure that they are seen as a valuable resource that could go into recycling and go into be made into at the highest point a new textile garment again? So really fiber-to-fiber recycling. So that’s one wish that I would like to see for 2040. I think as well personally, because I spend so much time or I have spent so much time in the really operational part of what to do when we do have this textile waste generated, how to set it or the collection, the sorting, the recycling. But before I dive into that part of the infrastructure, I would really like to emphasize the need for focus on not generating the waste in the first place. So really design for longevity, design for circularity, and the last case, design for recyclability, but really minimizing the amount of waste that we’re producing in the first place before we then look at recycling. Recycling should really come as a last step or a last stage, last resort.

Patrick Hypscher: Right. And I learned from a previous podcast you’ve joined that there has been also a challenge in your team about, let’s say, kind of limiting your own consumption. And most of us now know, refuse and reduce is a very powerful strategy in the first place. Do you see this somehow addressed?

Louisa Hoyes: So I think we had a really great team challenge a couple of years ago where we all committed to only buying one or five items of clothing for the whole year. I really encourage it. I would really recommend people have that in the back of their mind and try that challenge. And the most significant thing it did was every time we went to buy a new item of clothing or even thought about buying a new item of clothing, it really made us think about the need for it. And I think none of us necessarily have a clothing shortage. I think we have an attention shortage. We don’t really remember or know what’s in the back of our closet or what clothing we have, and we get drawn into buying more and consuming more. So I think just having that in the back of your mind, it really, it comes down to, to what I mentioned, the core point of this being textile circularity is not only about the technology and the infrastructure, it’s also about changing our way, the way that we consume clothing.

[00:10:37] Commercial barriers to scaling textile circularity

Patrick Hypscher: All right. Yeah, in the previous question about the future you already mentioned the circular strategies it needs, so recycling in general, in particular fiber-to-fiber, and especially also the design phase. If you look at it from a commercial point of view, what are the, let’s say, what are the challenges with these kind of practices right now? Because we know them and they’re, I mean, of course recycling is a challenging topic, but also yeah, the design components, most of them are known, but it seems as though there are commercial constraints that kind of prevent the more circular practices right now. What are these commercial constraints?

Louisa Hoyes: So the core aspects of the new infrastructure that we need to scale is the collection, the sorting and the recycling. And though we see at the moment, especially in Europe, the US, we see really great examples of collection systems, not only for reuse, but also recycling. We see great examples of sorting, automated sorting for recycling, and we also see recycling. But at the moment, the challenge is they’re not at full scale, they’re not fully operational. So some of the challenges around collection are how do we implement a collection system that can collect in both reuse and recycle grade. Is that one stream, which means the consumer will put both recycle and reuse in one bin to be collected, where then does the separation take place? Should we look at two streams, so consumers separate at home, this is where my reuse grade goes, this is where my recycle grade goes? Can we rely on consumers to do that and to make the right decision? So there’s some challenges there, and if we don’t, then who takes the responsibility for sorting that out at that point? Then you have the, the transport and logistics. That’s one of the biggest impacts in the business model at the moment is, is shipment of them, of the textiles. Then you have the sorting. So we have sorting technology available, but it’s going to cost, it’s large investment costs building these sorting facilities. And then again, for the recycling, a lot of recyclers at the moment rely on capital investment, grant and really strong strategic partnerships. So we have all of the parts, but we’re in some of the links and the really strong business model collecting all of these together. And this is a really great case for supportive policy and legislation that can generate funding and bridge the gap between where we are today and the infrastructure that needs to be scaled up.

Patrick Hypscher: Before we go to regulation and the EPR system, I want to stay one more moment with the demand for recycled material. Last summer I’ve been to Kenya and explored different aspects of Kenyan life and the Kenyan economy, and what struck me was the way they handle plastics recycling, so packaging plastics, bottles, and so on. Because a certain fraction, we could say a lot or maybe not enough, but a certain fraction of the plastics gets collected from the streets, from the landfills, and this is the one where there’s demand for this recycled material. And I wonder, I mean, the fact that the collection and sorting doesn’t work right now has obviously also to do with the fact that the willingness to pay for recycled fiber is not as high as the cost to produce that. Do you see in the near future possibility to have an increased demand there for recycled fiber so that there could be a positive flywheel, that there’s a higher willingness to pay and therefore there’s more capital available to make the investments in this kind of infrastructure? What’s your perspective on the demand side?

[00:14:28] Building demand for recycled fibres

Louisa Hoyes: I think one of the important factors here to increase demand will be availability. We’re just starting to see the first new round of commercial-scale chemical recycling facilities scaling in Europe. So one will be just brands being able to see the availability of recycled fibers. Another aspect here that will increase the demand will be supportive policy and legislation. For example, the eco-design regulation that’s currently being discussed in Europe, which will call for potentially mandated recycled content. If we see brands having a mandated percentage of recycled content in their clothing, I think that would be a really key switch to turn to create huge demand for the system. I think one of the other things that impacts demand at the moment is availability of feedstock, or it’s impacting the scale up of the infrastructure. So the comparison between what kind of recycling technologies do we see scaling at the moment versus what kind of waste fibers do we actually find in post-consumer waste textile? So what are we actually throwing away at home? This is really impacting the business model. So if you look at the waste composition of clothing that you find in post-consumer waste textiles, about 50% of it is either high-content cotton, high-content polyester, or a polycotton blend. And this actually matches up to the main archetypes of recycling technologies that we see emerging: cotton chemical recycling, polyester chemical recycling, polycotton chemical recycling. Then you’ve of course got the rest of the 50, which doesn’t necessarily have a commercial scale recycling technology at the moment. So that’s impacting the business model for collectors and sorters, the value of the material, how much the yield of the material that can be recycled, and then of course really the demand from the brands. And I think that can be at least really encouraged and pushed by supported policy and legislation like recycled content targets.

Patrick Hypscher: And I guess, well, the yield and also the profitability of the recycling process kind of depends on the purity of the input stream in the collection and mostly separation. What is possible right now already, but maybe not economically feasible, but what is possible out there and where are current challenges where you say, okay, this is really hard to separate?

[00:17:02] Sorting technologies and feedstock quality

Louisa Hoyes: So I would say the technology is not necessarily the challenge. It’s the standard. It’s… sorting technology will work back from the end markets. What do we need to be sorting for? What kind of recycling technology is emerging? Then the sorting technology will work back from the demand to say, okay, we’re designing a sorting facility. These are the downstream markets. We have a chemical recycler for cotton, a mechanical recycler for cotton. Each recycling process downstream from the sorting will inform what kind of output product needs to be sorted, what kind of purity rate, what are the non-target items or what kind of materials will create challenges for the recyclers, and that will determine how much or how little processing the material needs to go through. So do we just need to recover cotton? Could it be less than 100 cotton, 98 cotton, so you increase the yield a bit? Are things like metal, elastane or prints on a t-shirt, are they going to be harmful to the recycling process or not? Because there are so many new and emerging recycling technologies at the moment, there’s very little standardization. So I think the challenge that we see at the moment is when you look to design a sorting facility for recycling, matching the outputs to recyclers can be challenging because there’s no standardization between what one sorting facility should be sorting for. But I think in terms of sorting out the fiber type for the emerging recycling technologies, pre-treatment as well, so we think about not only sorting but also pre-treatment after the sorting. So you’ve recovered the cotton, for example, you need to do size reduction, metal removal, purification, taking out trims, buttons, zippers. So combining that both the sorting and pre-treatment, and really just understanding what should one sorting facility do, what are the downstream markets that they should be facilitating.

Patrick Hypscher: Okay, yeah, it’s quite an interconnected chain, so to say. But I get you’re frequently saying it’s kind of driven from the demand, from the downstream demand and specifications. But you’re basically saying from a technological point of view everything is possible, it’s more just a matter of the business case and the ability to invest in the infrastructure.

Louisa Hoyes: I would say, yeah, absolutely, it’s possible. Textiles is perhaps one of the most complex materials that you can look at for sorting and pre-treatment, just because of the amount of different blends that you have, the different components that we have put on clothing, sequins, print, dyes. So it’s not an easy task, but there is so much work going into the technology development. So I really see the complexity now is not necessarily the technology, but it’s really the intense collaboration that the sorter needs to collaborate with all of the emerging recyclers. The recyclers are developing their recycling technology, but need to inform the sorters what to sort. They need to engage and share feedstock specification requirements. It’s kind of like building the plane whilst you’re flying it at the same time. So they’re building recycling facilities and testing, moving from lab and pilot scale, testing their technology at commercial scale, tweaking the recipe whilst also trying to inform sorting technology providers as they’re scaling up as well. So it’s incredible, it’s quite complex. But I know that there is some intense collaboration happening.

[00:20:40] How EPR can accelerate textile circularity

Patrick Hypscher: And now, new on the stage, the European EPR system for textiles, creating another factor that will change and influence the system. From your point of view, how should this system be designed to overcome the challenges we just discussed?

Louisa Hoyes: Yeah, I think EPR will be, of course, a really great piece of policy and legislation that will support and bridge the gap between the current linear system that we have and the future circular economy that we have for textiles. The money that is generated from brands paying the fee can now be redistributed to support the intense investment that we’ve just talked about. We know we’re going to need to invest in new collection systems that can account for recycle grade textiles as well as reuse. We know that there’s going to be some intense investment needed to scale up sorting for recycling and the recycling technology. So EPR can really be used to incentivize each of these parts of the new value chain. How can we make sure new collection systems are set up for recycle grade as well? How can we incentivize that sorting follows the waste hierarchy, so first sorting for reuse, repair, and then finally sorting for recycling? How can the EPR incentivize investment in sorting for recycling? How can the EPR be used to incentivize traceability? So I think that’s, that’s a big topic that we haven’t really touched on yet, but I think really EPR can be used also to incentivize new systems that support transparency and traceability of those garments through their life cycle, including through end of life. Also how EPR could be used to incentivize fiber-to-fiber recycling, really making sure that garments are being made back into new garments. The purpose of EPR is not necessarily to support the current ecosystem, but it can be used as a bridge to get us to a new operating circular economy. And the best, the best outcome in the new circular economy for textiles is not that every textile is recycled, it’s that every textile sees its next best value. So whether that be reuse or a repair or maybe eventually recycling, that’s really where EPR can add value, is supporting the bridge between a linear economy and the new circular economy for textiles.

Patrick Hypscher: Louisa, as you just explained, this is really a connected issue. It means the demand from the recyclers, you need to think about the different purposes of a certain item. Can we reuse it? Can we repair it? So there are many actors involved and you need a lot of information. You also mentioned ability as an important enabler for a more circular textile industry. This really requires collaboration between multiple companies, stakeholders, legislators, and this is naturally challenging. Have you seen good examples for collaboration that I’m sure is already out there in certain segments? What does it take to make progress there together as a group of companies and organizations?

[00:23:56] Collaboration across the textile value chain

Louisa Hoyes: I think that’s one of the biggest challenges that we see now. There’s been so much work on each of the individual parts of the new value chain and infrastructure, technology developments for sorting, technology developments for recycling technology, focusing on how to now collect in recycle grade. But what we now need to see is really intense collaboration between individual companies to understand how the new textile is going to move through this value chain. Like you said, it’s complex. And as well as the collaboration, it’s going to take really business model innovation, so each part of that supply chain and value chain needs to see a value and a revenue. So at the collection point, at the sorting point, at the recycling point. That’s why when you see today comparisons between recycled fiber and virgin fiber, there’s so much that needs to be done to that waste garment before it gets recycled that adds on a value to it. So something that will support this is both policy and legislation. So EPR creating funding that can support the scale up, and also just the scale up itself. Once this value chain is at scale, it will be more economically viable. I think some of the best examples that I’ve seen of collaboration are some of the larger cross-value chain working groups. So for example, Accelerating Circularity, with working groups in Europe and the US, really bringing together each part of the value chain they have. They have technology providers, they have brands, legislators, they have really all of the key stakeholders that wouldn’t necessarily sit and share together. In working groups, looking at pilots for brands committing to a certain amount of recycled material, and then making sure that they can take the collected material, connect it with a sorter, take the sorted material, connect it with a recycler, and they’ve been producing recycled materials that are taken up by the brands and being used and sold by the brands. So they’re really on a small pilot scale creating and demonstrating what’s possible, and it’s from there now that they’re really building the foundations and the building blocks of the future circular economy that can now be scaled and now needs to move from pilot and lab scale to really full commercial scale.

Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, looking forward to see the results in the fashion stores at some point. Talking about time, the EPR scheme in Europe has to be in force in about two years, in 2028. How long do you think it will take that we see substantial changes, as you said, in terms of investment in facilities, maybe also business model, increase in recycled content and so on?

[00:26:49] When will textile circularity reach commercial scale?

Louisa Hoyes: Yeah, I think it’s a really great question. It depends where you look in the value chain. As I mentioned, it’s such a complex sector at the moment because there are so many different parts. It’s not just one part of the value chain that we need to fix and turn on, and then we’ve had textile circuits really creating this whole new infrastructure. So when will we see complete textile circularity at scale? 10 to 15 years. But when will we start seeing a change? I would say we’re starting to see some of the first commercial scale recycling technologies building already now. They will be open and operational, for example, in Europe by end of 27, 28. So that’s, some of these facilities are 70, 75,000 tons per year. So that’s not small quantities. Of course, there are huge quantities of textile waste. It’s just scratching the surface of the total volume, but it’s a significant change having these first commercial scale recycling facilities. I believe within the next five years we will certainly start to see the effects of having this infrastructure coming together and scaling somewhat, at least in the European context.

Patrick Hypscher: I hope you will still be able to wear your jacket until there is a really circular solution for the end of life of that one. Louisa, you shared so many insights with us. I’d like to return the favor. So what kind of companies who might listen, or people working in companies who might listen right now, do you want to talk to these days?

[00:28:24] Closing reflections

Louisa Hoyes: I would love to talk to any emerging recycling technologies. I really find it fascinating. I think they are one of the critical keys. So how they will scale, where they will be scaling, how far they are with their technology advancements, what kind of feedstock are they looking for, what are the challenges? So really recycling technology. Really interested to connect with brands, so it must be a minefield for brands to understand all of the emerging policy and legislation, to understand timelines, to understand how and where they could access recycled materials. So not only do they need to start thinking about incorporating recycled fibers, but also how do they work up their value chain to incorporate that. So I’d be fascinated also to talk to brands and support there to see how I could be of use connecting them into the downstream recycling value chain. I would really say any part of the value chain, anybody in the end of life, apart from collectors, sorters, with, is that’s, yeah, I found value or is interested in in parts of what I’ve been saying. And yeah, I’m really interested to engage and share different perspectives as well.

Patrick Hypscher: Yeah, that’s a big and strong invitation. We’ll put the link to your LinkedIn profile into the show notes. And then if you feel this sounds like you, reach out to Louisa. Louisa, thanks a lot.

Louisa Hoyes: Thanks so much, Patrick. It’s a really exciting topic. I could talk for many hours more.

Patrick Hypscher: This was the fourth episode in our Textile EPR series. If you want to get the key learnings from my conversation with Louisa, sign up for the circularity.fm newsletter. In the next episode, Carina Hofmann-Wellenhof from CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and I will wrap up the Textile EPR series and we will look at textile circularity beyond EPR. In the meantime I wish you all the best in driving a profitable circular economy. And please don’t forget, the most abundant renewable resource is your imagination.