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T-REX Project

T-REX Project

The T-REX Project brings together 13 major players from across the entire value chain to create a harmonised EU blueprint and business opportunities for closed loop sorting, and recycling of household textile waste. Transforming end-of-use textiles, from waste, into a desired feedstock, and a commodity for new business models that can be adopted at scale.

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Problem Statement

The global consumption of textiles is increasing, with global production of the two most relevant fibres, cotton and polyester, expected to grow by 40% before 2023. There is also no EU-wide plan on how to deal with the existing and anticipated textile waste: currently, 2% of post-consumer textiles are diverted to fibre-to-fibre recycling, while 87% is landfilled or incinerated. By January 2025 new EU Directive 2018/851 will require all member states to establish a separate household textile waste collection and respect increasing minimum recycling goals, but the pure legislative approach cannot alone solve the growing textile waste problem. 

Executive Summary

Across a three-year period, the T-REX Project will collect and sort household textile waste and demonstrate the full recycling process of polyester, polyamide 6, and cellulosic materials from textile waste into new garments. Simultaneously, the project aims to demonstrate sustainable and economically feasible business models for each actor along the value chain, conduct lifecycle analysis of the circular process, integrate digital tools that streamline the process of closed loop textile recycling, and produce circular design guidelines. 

The project ultimately aims to contribute to a paradigm shift, understanding and identifying the infrastructure, technology and policy needed to encourage the growth of circular value chains. 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

T-REX Project aims to create a blueprint in Europe for creating new business opportunities based on closed-loop textile recycling using household (i.e. post-consumer) textile waste as new feedstock.

Project Results

Stakeholders Involved

13 major players from across the entire value chain collaborate towards demonstrating a potential scalable solution for textile-to-textile recycling.

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