Study: Ten levers for competitive textile-to-textile polyester recycling in Europe

A new study called “The Textile Recycling Breakthrough” has analysed textile-to-textile polyester recycling in Europe and has identified ten key levers to unlock exponential growth in polyester recycling in Europe. It also quantifies the cost gap between chemically recycled and virgin polyester, outlines policy and investment solutions and shows how Europe can scale depolymerisation nearly tenfold by 2035, thus cutting waste and emissions.

The multi-stakeholder study is led by systems change company Systemiq and supported by Canadian outdoor brand Arc’teryx, Italian material innovation company Eastman, Italian environmental solutions provider Interzero, the Textile Exchange and Norwegian recycling company Tomra.

It draws on economic modelling, systems analysis, real financial data and insights from 17 organisations across the value chain including brands like Lululemon and Patagonia, organisations like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Fashion for Good, recyclers, civil society and infrastructure providers.

“Scaling textile-to-textile recycling is both possible and urgent – but it won’t happen without bold policy support. This report is a much-needed blueprint for unlocking the environmental and economic benefits of polyester recycling in Europe,” comments Karla Magruder, founder of Accelerating Circularity, in a press release.

The study’s main point is that while advanced textile recycling technologies have developed significantly in recent years, they have not yet been widely adopted. Especially depolymerisation methods are seen as a promising solution when thinking of Europe’s growing volumes of polyester textile waste and when reuse or mechanical recycling is not viable.

“These depolymerisation technologies are both environmentally attractive and technically capable of producing virgin-equivalent outputs, with the potential to significantly reduce the negative consequences of burgeoning textile waste and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to virgin polyester production.However, despite its attractiveness, depolymerisation is not yet scaling,” the study points out.

Lack of affordability and accessibility hindering scalability

To reach a tipping point for mass adoption, that is when recycling polyester waste through depolymerisation becomes more competitive than virgin polyester production from fossil fuels, two more conditions must be met: affordability and accessibility.

“Affordability remains the most significant constraint: producing recycled polyester from post-consumer textile waste in Europe costs around 2.6 times more than the average cost of virgin polyester in Asia,” finds the study.

Access to textile waste feedstock (at the necessary quality and quantity for at-scale recycling) poses challenges on the supply side. On the demand side, the higher price of textile-to-textile recycled polyester has most brands continue to favour cheaper virgin polyester or recycled polyester from PET beverage bottles.

“Without targeted policy action to address both affordability and accessibility, depolymerisation will remain stuck in pilot purgatory, and the breakthrough to mass adoption will not happen,” cautions the study.

In view of growing mountains of textiles worldwide and the declining quality of textiles, this is worrying indeed.

Policy and industry action to the rescue

The study has identified ten levers across four areas: the cost gap, access to feedstock, production costs and offtake demand to reach a tipping point for mass adoption.

In terms of an improved access to feedstock, it advocates implementing designs that take recycling into account, establishing widespread separate textile collections in addition to setting standards for sorting for recycling and establishing clarity on trade.

The second area, offtake demand, could be strengthened by creating demand-side policy incentives and ensuring brand and supply chain commitments.

Production costs would greatly reduce if energy prices reduced in the EU and investments would carry less risk.

In terms of the cost gap, the study advises to fully cover net costs with an ambitious Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. Internalising shipping costs would also help.

“Based on our system assumptions and available data, an EPR fee of approximately 250 euros per tonne by 2028, rising to 330 euros per tonne by 2035, would be needed to cover the net costs of collection, sorting and recycling. This is directional and will differ by member state. Put in perspective, the combined effect of a 330 euro per tonne EPR fee and a 55 euros per tonne green premium would result in a total cost uplift of 385 euros per tonne. For a 400−gram jumper, this translates to just 0.15 euros per item,” goes the calculation.

With the above mentioned levers in place, producing recycled polyester through textile-to-textile recycling could become competitive with producing virgin polyester from fossil fuel feedstocks . “European output of recycled polyester from depolymerisation could grow from around 30,000 tonnes expected before 2028 to 300,000 tonnes annually by 2035 – a nearly tenfold increase. This would represent an around 15 percent share of the polyester textiles consumed in Europe and would demonstrate exponential growth, as seen in other breakthrough technologies,” sums up the study.

“Europe has the opportunity to lead the transition to circular textiles, and technologies like depolymerisation are ready to play a central role. What’s needed now is the right and demanding policy framework, long-term offtake commitments, and de-risking mechanisms to take these solutions to scale,” comments Eric Dehouck, managing director of Eastman Circular Solutions.

The complete study can be downloaded from systemiq.earth.