Researchers at TU Graz turn textile waste into paper

Until now, old clothes have mainly been incinerated. Using adapted processes from paper production, it is possible to recover the cellulose fibres from used clothing and use them to produce cardboard and other packaging materials. In Austria alone, around 220,000 tonnes of textile waste are produced every year, of which almost 80 per cent is incinerated. As a result, valuable raw materials are irretrievably lost. A team led by Thomas Harter from the Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology has come up with a sustainable solution to this problem. The researchers have developed a process to recover the fibres from cotton-based used textiles and use them to produce paper for packaging materials. Compared to conventional recycled paper, the paper with textile fibre content proves to be significantly stronger.

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