£4mln UK pre-processing demonstrator for waste textiles
A £4mln project to develop and pilot a fully-integrated, automated, sorting and pre-processing demonstrator for waste textiles (ATSP) is being led by The UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT).
The Autosort for Circular Textiles Demonstrator (ACT UK) is a two-year project that will support the transition from manual sorting of clothes and textiles that are not suitable for resale to automated sorting and pre-processing.
This textile waste can then be used as feedstock for existing and emerging recycling processes.
ACT UK brings together a consortium of recycling technologies, textile collectors/sorters, academia, manufacturers, industry associations, technologists and brands/retailers, supported with funding from Innovate UK.
ACT UK will build on sorting approaches that are currently coming to market in countries such as the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
It is said the UK approach will innovate, combine and advance existing and new supporting technologies to overcome current barriers to materials circularity.
The project will bring together and advance key technology components, including state-of-the-art optical scanning, robotics, AI, pre-processing (buttons, zips and trim removal). and size reduction equipment – all under one roof.
It will create a blueprint that integrates the latest technologies and can be deployed across the UK.
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