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Most consumers are unaware of what happens to the mounds of
clothing, towels, tablecloths and other post-consumer textiles after
they are removed from homes. While some of these items are donated or
resold locally, many items end up in trash bins and landfills, locally,
nationally or internationally.
“We're exporting waste to other countries, so that it's ending up in
landfills in other places around the world where it can have
environmentally damaging effects and negative impacts on local
industries,” said Kedron Thomas, a cultural anthropologist and project
co-PI. “We have to start dealing with our own clothing waste.”
The research team said that taking a hyper-local approach to the
problem of post-consumer clothing and textile waste can change this,
while contributing to the local economy. The team’s approach is to prove
the viability of a holistic model where textiles are collected,
recycled and reused all within a single region, catalyzing a circular
economy. As part of the project, dubbed the Recycled Textile and
Manufacturing Ecosystems project, or RETAME, the researchers will look
at the waste streams and the specific material resources that are
available in the Delaware region to consider what and how materials can
best be repurposed for new life.
Textile scientist Huantian Cao explained that textiles have different
technical properties, such as material strength, absorbency or
biodegradability that may lend themselves to new uses.
“Textile properties play an important role when we decide the next
application of recycled textiles,” said Cao. “For example, we can
develop agricultural textiles such as weed-control mulch mats from
recycled textiles that are biodegradable. After biodegradation, these
mulch mats may enrich the soil.”
Testing and documenting the material properties of different textiles
is an important part of the process. For instance, if a recycled
textile is not biodegradable, using it for agricultural purposes could
lead to soil contamination or contribute to microplastic pollution.
Knowing this information in advance will help identify where materials
aren’t suitable for a given purpose.