Unlocking the Potential of Post-Consumer Textile Waste: Experimenting with New Recycling Practices

Digiorgio Giannitto, Carmen (2024) Unlocking the Potential of Post-Consumer Textile Waste: Experimenting with New Recycling Practices. In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 2279-2285. ISBN 978-952-7549-02-5

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Abstract

The textile sector represents one of the most important industrial supply chains in Italian manufacturing and, at the same time, is characterized by a significant ecological footprint. In particular, end-of-life management of products is a significant challenge, both because of the textile composition composed of mixtures of synthetic and natural fibers - which hinders recycling operations - and because of the increasing volumes of material given the dynamics of fast fashion and changing production patterns. Currently, only 1 percent of textiles produced globally are reused, and the percentage of waste is expected to grow. The increasing visibility of the problem has brought about a change in the perception of the fate of waste. The concept of waste today has taken on a positive connotation, being viewed no longer just as an inert object to be discarded but as a resource. Given the paradigm shift that sees waste as a new resource, it is crucial to outline a design framework that paves the way for a significant change of productive, economic, environmental, and cultural scope in the use of material resources. This approach becomes crucial to turn waste abundance into a design opportunity. The purpose of the research is to explore the potential applications of post-consumer textile waste, focusing mainly on textiles with mixed fiber composition and those whose material is difficult to identify due to the lack of labels, thus preventing the recycling process. The objective is to study, test, and define a new process of producing neomaterials from post-consumer textile waste in mixed fibers and, from their qualitative and quantitative properties, define the most suitable application.

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