SESSION C08 / / 22 May 2026 / 09:30 - 10:45
Workshop - Closing the loop for textiles?
Chair / Presidente: Andreas Bartl (AT)
Textile waste is growing rapidly worldwide, yet true fiber-to-fiber recycling remains rare. At the same time, regulatory developments in Europe and other regions increasingly require separate collection of textiles and the development of circular material systems. Complex blends, disruptive materials such as elastane, and insufficient sorting technologies continue to prevent large-scale circularity. The rapid growth of fast fashion and the increasing complexity of textile products make recycling particularly challenging. As a result, large volumes of textiles are still recycled into low-value (open-loop) applications, incinerated, or exported, rather than being recovered in closed-loop systems and reintroduced into new textile production. Short introductory presentations will highlight key bottlenecks along the textile urban mining chain, including consumer dynamics, advanced sorting technologies, and emerging separation strategies for blended fabrics. The session is designed as a discussion-oriented workshop to identify the most critical technological and systemic barriers and discuss whether current recycling approaches are sufficient to enable truly circular textile systems.
Introductory lectures:
G. De Feo, M. Napoli, R. Gargano, U. Vietri, D.R. Cirasuolo (IT)
Fast fashion and textile waste: education as a strategic lever for textile urban mining and circular consumption transition
H. Weber (AT)
NIR-based sorting technologies for post-consumer textile waste
L. Van Belleghem (BE)
Selective removal of elastane from blended textiles to enable recycling
A. Mautner (AT)
Disruptors in textile recycling: challenges in processing mixed fiber waste streams
S. Rosenbusch (AT)
Solvent-based pretreatment strategies for cotton-rich textile waste
Moderated round-table discussion with the participants. The discussion will focus on the following guiding questions:
Can we realistically close the loop for textiles?
Which technological bottlenecks and system barriers currently prevent large-scale fiber-to-fiber recycling?
Is closed-loop recycling the only viable pathway, or can open-loop systems play a meaningful role in textile circularity?
Are current sorting and recycling technologies sufficient, or are more fundamental changes in textile design, consumption patterns and waste management systems required?
