Success in the Recycling of Synthetic Yarns
The Austrian family-owned company Getzner Textil is hard at work exploring the possibilities of the circular economy in the textile industry. Initial successes are currently being achieved in the recycling of textile waste: Polyester waste is turned into yarn, which can ultimately be used to re-produce the original product.
TFE Textil GmbH, a subsidiary of Getzner Textil, produces support fabrics for industrial applications made of 100 per cent polyester. ‘During the process of weaving, waste is produced at the selvedges. This waste is now being collected as part of a pilot project and reprocessed into yarn,’ explains Barbara Paul, Sustainability Officer at Getzner Textil. The collaboration with the Austrian recycling company Erema Group looks very promising: ‘The recycled yarn has shown excellent results in numerous tests in our laboratories. Now our goal is to produce the original product using the waste from that product, thereby creating a cycle – the machines are running and the result has been extremely satisfactory,’ says Development Coordinator Jonas Bemetz.
The Potential of Waste
At the moment, further tests are still needed before the product can be presented to an interested customer base. ‘In addition to industrial applications, there is potential in the mobility sector and in the area of personal protective equipment,’ says Paul, summarising other possible areas of application. Bernd Matt, Managing Director of TFE Textil GmbH, is very pleased: ‘Demand for recycled alternatives is high. The fact that we will even be able to offer our customers our own product made from 100 per cent recycled material in future is fantastic. Without the expertise of our parent company Getzner Textil, a project like this would not be possible.’ With seven locations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the Getzner Textil Group is a specialist in innovative fabrics. In the company’s own development centre, work is also currently underway on a recycling solution for cotton waste.
