On recycling, CFIN is looking to create a national textile recycling infrastructure plan in consultation with industry experts and bodies from the Textile Recycling Association (TRA) to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
“Textile recycling itself is a whole new supply chain, right? We have to start with collection right through to recycled textiles being incorporated into the content of a retailer,” says Junestrand.
“What happens in between is extremely complex. So we’ve brought together seven different areas of work, starting with postconsumer collection, then textile management, pre-processing and sorting, textile-to-textile recycling, open loop recycling, post industrial recycling, and finally retailer incorporation of recycled content.
“Within each of these areas. We have brought together at least 15 to 20 key individuals or organisations to actually discuss the challenges and opportunities and where innovation comes in.
“We’re going to need collection systems in place that actually avoid consumers throwing away textiles in their black bin. We have to rethink all of that because right now the sorting and collection sector in the UK is not built to provide feedstock for textile recycling plants.”
The ambition is not only to reduce the impacts of the fashion and textiles industry by embracing circularity, but also for the UK to grasp the economic opportunities of becoming a leading player in sustainable new business practices.
However, Britain faces significant challenges in a post-Brexit world, with its European neighbours set to introduce separate textile waste collections for textiles next year, and planning an EPR (extended producer responsibility) scheme for textiles.
Neither of these policies are as yet on the horizon in Britain which, as Junestrand admits, is something of a challenge: “An EPR system would provide a financial foundation to be able to be more secure about building this infrastructure, and it would encourage better design through eco-modulation fees.
“It’s a massive obstacle that the UK is not considering EPR at the moment, but at the same time we are engaged in what’s happening in Europe and we’re constantly putting forward everything that we think is needed from a government perspective.
“When it comes to the separate collection of textile waste. I think the positive side in the UK is that there’s a huge infrastructure there and lots of stakeholders, whether that’s the charity sector or take back schemes from retailers, that could potentially start managing that waste more efficiently to meet recycling targets.”
The amount of innovation coming in the UK, in every step of the supply chain, is just amazing
CFIN was launched a year ago and is roughly halfway through its two year programme. Junestrand says this means it is just moving away from the drawing board and into the “exciting” activity stage.
“The amount of innovation coming in the UK, in every step of the supply chain, is just amazing. We have innovation in materials, in manufacturing, in business models – compared to other countries, I think we’re pretty much ahead of the game,” she said.
