When fashion experts and BlockTexx founders Graham Ross and Adrian Jones realised the urgent need to develop a closed loop for the fashion industry, they were motivated to team up with researchers to help make a difference.
Impressed by textile waste research conducted at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) led by Professor Robert Speight and A/Prof Zhanying Zhang, they quickly scaled-up technology which is now able to reclaim 98% of resources from cotton and polyester garments to fight textile landfill.
Logan-based textile recovery technology company BlockTexx, is now the first textile recycling plant capable of separating and recycling blends of cotton and polyester fibres on a large scale.
It plans to recycle more than 50,000 tonnes of recycled textiles over the coming four years, material that might otherwise have ended up in landfill.
“We’re the only chemical recycling company in the southern hemisphere focussed on polyester-cotton blended fabrics,” Professor Zhang said.
“By focussing on that, it gives us 80 per cent of the global cotton market, which is where we will make the biggest impact.”
QUT researcher Associate Professor Zhanying Zhang said in order to recycle clothes, two different polymers need to first be separated and recovered; however, this process is difficult and costly.
“Clothes are made of different polymers and the common polymer blend is polyester and cotton (cellulose polymer).
“The technology separates polyester polymer and cotton from textile waste in a cost-effective way.
“Polyester-cotton blends dominate the textile products. With this technology, most polyester-cotton blend textile waste can be recycled and make the textile industry more sustainable,” he said.
By 2030, the yearly volumes of textile waste dumped in landfill will hit 140 million tonnes globally, in part because of an inability to recycle blended fibres such as polycotton.
On the back of their success, the state government has announced it will invest $17 million to turn similar scientific research projects into new opportunities for local business, exports and jobs.
“When you are building a next generation business, it’s critical during the proof-of-concept stage to access world class scientists and research facilities,” Graham Ross said.
Professor Zhang said the research partnership with BlockTexx demonstrated the mutual benefits of university-industry collaborations that delivered innovative solutions.
“QUT has a strong research focus in sustainability and is focused on tackling real-world problems through research partnerships such as these,” he said.
