Newcastle research team leading the way on fabric waste upcycling

University of Newcastle researchers are helping to create a major new textile upcycling industry that will prevent millions of tonnes of fabric waste ending up in annually.

The Cotton Research and Development Corporation estimates Australians consume 14.8 kilograms of new clothing each year. In addition, 800,000 tonnes of textile waste ends up in landfill in Australia each year.

The waste contributes to an elevated carbon footprint, microfibre pollution and chemical contamination of ecosystems.

Associate Professor Thava Palanisami and his team at the university's Environmental Plastics Innovation Centre are part of a Cotton Research and Development Corporation research project that aims to create a circular economy for waste fabric.

The team has developed a world-first enzyme-based technology that allows cotton fibre to be separated from plastics, such as polyester.

"It takes about a day to separate a kilogram of blended textile," Associate Professor Palanisami said.

The process can be complicated by the use of modern dyes that often contain toxins such as heavy metals.

"The binding chemistry (with modern dyes) is much stronger. It presents a lot of challenges for recycling and upcycling," Associate Professor Palanisami said.

"However, we are seeing a lot of innovation in natural fibres, a lot of fashion brands are also using natural dyes, which are much easier to separate than chemical dyes."

In addition to developing technologies that will result in more fabrics being recycled and upcycled, the team of 20 researchers has also worked to create increased awareness of waste fabric pollution impacts the environment.

Another aspect of the project is looking at ways to pelletise cotton textiles through biological breakdown of the waste material to enable spreading on fields using existing farm machinery.

The team plans to establish a pilot project in the near future to demonstrate how upcycling can be applied at an industrial level.

Purified cotton waste can be converted to compost and returned to the soil, whereas polyester can be converted into new products.

"We are the largest consumer of textiles and we need these type of solutions to manage our own waste materials," Associate Professor Palanisami said.