France unveils first automated textile waste recycling line

France’s first industrial plant for automated sorting and recycling of textile waste has been officially inaugurated at Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, Amplepuis. The plant is the result of an ambitious partnership between textile recycling company Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, waste sorting specialist Pellenc ST and international technology group Andritz, a specialist in textile recycling machinery and processes.

This partnership is a clear contribution to tackling the challenge of textile waste in the EU. The EU's strategy for sustainable and circular textiles aims to ensure that by 2030 textile products are made to a great extent of recycled fibres and incineration and landfilling of textiles are minimised, the company said in a press release.

Capable of automatically sorting garments by composition and colour, the new line meets the needs of both post-consumer and post-industrial waste markets. The line also removes hard parts such as buttons and zippers to prepare the material for further processing in an Andritz tearing machine.

The automated textile sorting line at Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is dedicated to industrial-scale production, customer trials and projects, and the R&D activities of the partners. It will process textile waste to produce recycled fibres for the spinning, nonwovens, and composites industries.

Automated sorting was the last missing link needed to develop a complete ecosystem in France, where the fashion industry, social and solidarity economy actors, waste management companies, and textile producers from different sectors are working together towards a textile circular economy.

“The opening of the new line marks a milestone in our efforts to turn textile waste into resources. And we are already laying the foundations for a second material preparation plant with a capacity to process 25,000 tons of post-consumer textiles per year,” Eric Boel, general manager, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, said.

“We are proud to be part of the sustainable transformation. With our technologies and our close partnership with Nouvelles Fibres Textiles and Pellenc ST, Andritz is making a significant contribution to a circular economy for textiles,” Alexandre Butte, general manager, Andritz Laroche, said.