ReHubs, an initiative of the European Clothing and Textile Federation (Euratex), launched in 2020, aims to tackle Europe’s huge problem of textile waste – currently 7 to 7.5 million tons of it (mainly in private households) , but only about 30 to 35 percent is collected. European waste legislation wants to change that, and accordingly all EU member states must collect textile waste separately in the next 2.5 years.
While some countries are already developing systems to address the waste collection challenge, there is currently no large-scale plan for processing this waste. This is where Euratex’s ReHubs initiative comes in, aiming for fiber-to-fiber recycling of 2.5 million tons of textile waste by 2030.
Textile recycling is lucrative
According to the ReHubs Techno Economic Master Study (TES), the textile recycling industry could create around 15,000 new direct jobs in Europe by 2030 and increase the need for nearshoring and reshoring of textile manufacturing. This would result in economic, social and environmental benefits of 3.5 to 4.5 billion euros by 2030.
“Transform Waste into Feedstock”, the first project supported by ReHubs, therefore aims to build a plant with a capacity of 50,000 tons by 2024, led by Texaid AG. This will focus on the further development and scaling of such sorting technologies.
“We estimate that achieving a fiber recycling rate of 18 to 26 percent by 2030 will require investments of 6 to 7 billion euros, in particular to develop sufficient sorting and processing infrastructure,” estimates Euratex.
In addition to Transform Waste into Feedstock, three other projects were announced: increasing the acceptance of mechanically recycled fibers in value chains, expanding capacity by solving technical challenges in thermo-mechanical textile recycling, and creating a capsule collection with recycled end-of-life products.
What is the ReHubs initiative?
The ReHubs initiative consists of three stakeholder groups: a business council, in which pioneering companies have come together to conduct the TES study; a stakeholder forum with a broader circle of stakeholders from business, research and science, which has already met twice to exchange information at the highest level and support future cooperation, and a Euratex task force with 14 national associations to monitor the progress of the Review ReHubs initiatives and align with national policy and industry developments.
Euratex launched the ReHubs initiative in 2020 to encourage collaboration across the extended textile value chain and all perspectives in chemicals, fiber and textile manufacturing, apparel production, retail and distribution, and the collection, sorting and recycling of textile waste into account.