Textile/fabric recycling is the reprocessing of the non-usable fabric to a usable form. Overall fabric waste has risen sharply due to the expansion of the clothing and textile industries as well as the fast fashion trend among consumers. Globally, the fashion industry pumps out 100 billion garments annually.
Yet only 12% of used textiles or clothes are mechanically recycled (cutting or shredding into fibers), and less than 1% is chemically recycled back to reuseable raw materials. 87% of unwanted clothes are thrown and sent to landfills
Why should we recycle textile/fabrics?
Natural fibers might take several weeks to several years to degrade in landfills. Most of the clothing made of synthetic fibers, comprises of plastic which might take years, or may never totally decompose. These will also emit CO2 and methane gas into the atmosphere when left in landfills and eventually be the cause of environmental deterioration.
Types of Textiles waste that can be recycled:
Pre-Consumer textile waste and post-consumer textile waste
Pre-Consumer Textile Waste: By-products of yarn and fabric manufacture
Post-Consumer Textile Waste: Includes garments, vehicle upholstery, carpets, towels, bedding, purses and more
Benefits of textile/fabrics recycling
Recycling of textile/fabrics waste will recover the re-usable raw materials that can be used as raw materials for creating new clothes and thereby promoting a circular economy.
The recycling strategies of upcycling and closed-loop recycling can best conserve resources including raw materials, water and energy while having a minimal negative impact on the environment.
Recycling clothes reduces the factors that contribute to climate change because when they are disposed of in landfills, they produce greenhouse gasses.
Therefore, recycle your old clothes and give them a second chance. This way we are all doing our bit in supporting a circular economy.
In an era of burgeoning consumerism, the textile industry contributes significantly to global waste accumulation. Places that are known for their fashion prowess, encounter a parallel surge in textile waste, prompting a crucial need for sustainable waste management solutions.
Understanding Textile Waste Recycling
Textile waste encompasses a wide array of discarded materials, from old garments to manufacturing leftovers. Its disposal poses environmental challenges, driving the need for efficient recycling strategies. Textile Waste Recycling Services aim to curb this impact by repurposing waste into valuable resources.
The Environmental Impact
Dubai’s vibrant fashion scene churns out a substantial volume of textile waste, straining landfills and impacting the environment. Textile waste in these landfills contributes to soil and water pollution, accentuating the need for responsible waste management practices.
Benefits of Textile Waste Recycling
Implementing recycling strategies for textile waste brings multifaceted advantages:
Environmental Conservation: By diverting textile waste from landfills, we mitigate environmental degradation, preserving natural resources.
Circular Economy Promotion: Recycling transforms discarded textiles into usable materials, fostering a circular economy that minimises waste.
Sustainable Industry Practices: Embracing textile waste recycling encourages sustainable practices within the fashion and textile industry.
Community Impact: Engaging in responsible recycling initiatives positively influences community perceptions and sustainability awareness.
Yes Full Circle’s Role in Textile Waste Recycling
Yes Full Circle Solutions (YFC) champions innovative Textile Waste Recycling Services in Dubai. With cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability, YFC employs tailored solutions for efficient waste management.
Through meticulous sorting and recycling processes, YFC reimagines textile waste, promoting responsible consumption and conservation. YFC’s expertise lies in creating greener, more sustainable practices without compromising industry standards.
Paper products are around us everyday and we may not think about what happens to it after it is tossed in the recycling bin.
Many of us start our days with paper — from reading the newspaper to the packaging of our favorite breakfast cereal to the milk carton we use along with it. If some of that milk spills, you can clean it right up with a paper towel.
The Upsides of Paper Recycling
In Abu Dhabi alone, 11.2 million tonnes of waste was produced by the emirate in 2019. This large amount of waste is due to a number of reasons, such as population growth, economic activities, and consumer shopping habits.
The environmental benefits of paper recycling cannot be understated. According to the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), recycling just one ton of paper can save 380 gallons of oil, 7000 gallons of water, and enough energy to power the average home for up to six months.
Paper recycling also conserves our natural resources. Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being torn down. Paper recycling has excellent benefits for businesses as well. Diverting paper from the landfill can dramatically reduce business waste costs, especially if the business churns a lot of paper products. Companies with recycling initiatives can often receive tax credits and will have a better shot at engaging with eco-conscious consumers who only want to do business with sustainable organizations.
The Paper Recycling Process
Recycled paper’s life cycle executes up to 6-7 times till the cellulose fibers become incapable of forming sheets. Here are the types of paper products that are recyclable:
Copy paper
Envelopes
Newspapers
Phone books
Notebooks
Catalogs
Magazines
Receipts
Paper shredders are good for concealing personal information from any prying eyes, but they make recycling more difficult. The small strips of shredded paper can easily become caught in the complex machinery of the recycling facility, damaging the machines or slowing down the entire process because the machines had to stop to rectify the stuck scraps. It is uncommon for curbside recycling services to accept shredded paper, but some do, so be sure to check with your local facility before leaving any out.
Step 1: Collection
The first step of paper recycling is collecting discarded paper to send to recycling facilities. We put paper into a separate recycling bin to keep it away from other waste products—contaminated paper, such as paper soiled with food, grease, or harmful chemicals, cannot be recycled and will be diverted to a landfill.
Step 2: Transportation and Sorting
With the paper placed in the proper bin, a waste and recycling hauler will come to collect your paper and transport it to a materials recovery facility to be sorted.
The paper is measured and sorted into separate categories, as certain paper products will be processed differently depending on type. For instance, glossy magazine paper will be treated differently than a standard piece of printer paper, so they need to be sorted separately.
Step 3: Shredding and Pulping
After the paper has been sorted and checked for contaminants, it is baled together and sent to a paper mill, where the recycling process truly begins.
At the paper mill, paper is shredded down into small scraps. Large amounts of water and chemicals, like hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, and sodium silicate, are added to the shreds to further break down the paper into separate paper fibers. The result is a mushy concoction known as pulp, the raw material that is used to make recycled paper. (This process is known as pulping.)
Larger contaminants, such as paper clips, staples, and tape, are screened for and removed from the pulp before it moves onto the next step.
Step 4: De-Inking
Once the large contaminants have been removed, the pulp is put into a large floatation tank with more chemicals and air bubbles. The chemicals and air bubbles help remove dyes and inks from the pulp, enhancing the purity and whiteness of the pulp. Dyes can also be added during this process to create colored paper.
The pulp, which is approximately 99 percent water to one percent fiber at this point, is then transferred to a paper machine.
Step 5: Drying
This is the final step in the paper recycling process. Once the pulp has been de-inked, it’s passed through massive rollers to squeeze out excess water from the mixture. Once the moisture has been removed, the pulp is sent through heated rollers to form long rolls of continuous sheets of paper. From there, the rolls of paper are sent to various manufacturers to be produced into paper products.
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The ocean is said to be Earth’s life support, with 97% of the world’s water held by the oceans. We rely on it to regulate our climate, absorb CO2 and oceans are the number one source of protein for over a billion people.
However, at the rate we are polluting the oceans, the damage we are doing to the marine life and ecosystem is becoming irreparable. It is estimated that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans annually. Our actions over the 10 years will determine the state of the ocean for the next 10,000 years to come.
Here are some staggering plastic pollution on our ocean statitstics:
The world produces 381 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly — this is set to double by 2034. 50% of this is single-use plastic & only 9% has ever been recycled.
More than 1 million plastic bags end up in the trash every minute.
1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption contains plastic.
More than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.
There is now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is around 1.6 million square kilometers.
Every day we hear stories about the impact of the 4th industrial revolution, new technology, disruptive innovation, and circular economy in our lives. Waste management and recycling have traditionally been a “static” industry, as changes were usually small and incremental. However, this pace of change is likely to accelerate, and we should be ready to recognize and be prepared for technology trends that will change waste generation rates, location, and processing methodologies. Below are some possibilities to consider.
Decentralization of waste generation and closing the loop
Technology innovations such as e-commerce websites, GPS tracking, and WhatsApp have made shopping at home easier. We order online, and items are delivered in the comfort of our homes at a time of our convenience. Because of the nature of delivery, packaging material tends to be more for online shopping compared to traditional brick and mortar shop purchases. The same for online food delivery. In a restaurant, one gets food served in reusable crockery, but with online delivery, food is delivered in plastic containers, together with plastic cutlery. As a result, both residential waste generation rates and waste composition types are likely to change. Simultaneously, we have the advent of 3D printing. As 3D printer prices drop and technology becomes simplified, we are likely to see the massive proliferation of these devices in homes. They could become a common standard in homes like a TV or fridge. What is the link between 3D printing and e-commerce? Closed-loop. Closed-loop is the foundation of the circular economy, whereby a waste output from 1 process becomes the recycling input of another process. 3D printers used to require virgin material as inputs. However, 3D printers, using either recycled input material or incorporating an ability to incorporate a mini recycling system, are being developed and tested. Once they are effectively commercialized, users could use a variety of inputs, for example, packaging waste, for these 3D printers to make what products they want. As a result, we could see the decentralization of waste generation, and reduction/elimination of waste streams from these decentralized locations.
Elimination of some waste streams and creation of new closed-loop waste streams
Many day-to-day financial transactions generates quite a bit of paper. Examples include ATM transactions, credit card till transactions, shopping and dining invoices, etc. These tend to be small in size, in odd shapes, and generally do not get sent for recycling. Contactless payment, blue tooth technology, email account linkages, and SMS notifications, are in their own way reducing these waste streams. Major banks, for example, enable one to receive an email receipt for transactions as an alternative for traditional printed receipts, and many firms are recognizing an e-receipt as being like a paper receipt for accounting and documentation purposes. As a result, as we adopt a “paperless” system, it is a matter of time before this particular paper waste stream is eliminated. At the same time, the increased use of technology is going to create new waste streams. An example is an electronic waste (e-waste). Like plastics which started at the periphery of usage, and then became mainstream, e-waste will follow the same trajectory. Interestingly though, the question is whether this new e-waste stream will really be waste? The level of toxicity in materials used in electronics is reducing, and producers making conscious efforts to ensure electronic products can be recycled effectively, and efficiently, through product design and applications of the latest material science technologies. E-waste companies may transform from an industrial classification of recycling to one of urban mining. Traditional mining, for example, rare earth, gold, and copper ores, has its associated environmental and social issues. An urban mining e-waste facility does not — provided it uses the correct technology to process. 99% of the materials recovered from electronic waste has a use in some other industries ranging from rare earth to precious metals to non-ferrous to plastics to glass etc and therefore can provide similar substitutes for raw materials usually provided by traditional mines. E-waste will, therefore, soon be an example of a “closed-loop waste stream”. Battery recycling is also another example of a creation of a new closed-loop waste stream.
AI, Robotics and the possible end of the traditional waste to energy plants
We now see robotics being developed and used in multiple applications such as recycling lines, home cleaning, and street-cleaning. Add in the artificial intelligence and machine learning element, and these robots will be soon able to do source segregation as they pick up the material. If this happens, instead of going for final disposal, these materials could be sent to recycling facilities for conversion into other products. This would reduce the input feedstock for traditional waste-to-energy (WTE) plants such as incineration, multi-fuel, refuse-derived fuel, etc. The attraction of these WTE facilities is they combine the twin objectives of ensuring waste is disposed of properly and generating power from waste received. The financial viability of these WTE plants is dependent on the tipping/gate fee for waste disposed of and the sale price of output power. This is especially important as WTE projects have 20 to 25-year project financing. In theory, the reduction in tipping fee volumes could be offset against a higher power output sale price. But this is where another technological innovation comes in — renewable energy. Prices of renewable energy have dropped dramatically over the years, and today, they are substantially lower than traditional fossil fuel / WTE utility power generation costs. However, the challenge for renewable energy has been storage, and with it, reliability and consistency of power generation. In a WTE plant, the waste bunker becomes the “input fuel storage” area, enabling it to generate power as and when required. Renewable energy, such as solar panels, didn’t have that advantage. Until now. Technology has made large battery power storage farms a reality, and thereby eliminated the last major competitive advantage that WTE/ fossil fuel plants had. As a result, over the new few years, WTE will suffer a double whammy of reduced incoming tipping fee revenue, and reduced output power sale revenue — impacting the long-term financial viability of these traditional WTE plants.
Will the above trends really happen?
It is already happening. High-tech organic composters are an example of decentralized waste generation and closing the loop. Residents put their excess waste into these machines and compost is generated in a short period of time. As the price of these high-tech composters falls, their market adoption rate will increase among households. In addition, some developers who market their projects as being green provide these high-tech composters as standards in new houses. Traditional print photos have now disappeared with the advent of digital photos. Stationery waste in schools has reduced dramatically with the heavy adoption of IT / laptops/ iPad by students as part of the learning curriculum. The above are examples of waste streams being eliminated. Artificial intelligence is being used for predictive analysis of waste generation and composition breakdown by equipment suppliers to build facilities of the future, and by urban planners to plan cities of the future. Thanks to the advent of awareness/knowledge drivers such as social media and search engines, adoption rates of new technologies, as mentioned above, will increase, and at a faster pace than ever before. Are we in the industry prepared for this future scenario? I hope so. Those businesses who do not prepare for this change, run the risk of being eliminated — just like one of the waste streams mentioned above.
The ocean is said to be Earth’s life support, with 97% of the world’s water held by the oceans. We rely on it to regulate our climate, absorb CO2 and oceans are the number one source of protein for over a billion people.
However, at the rate we are polluting the oceans, the damage we are doing to the marine life and ecosystem is becoming irreparable. It is estimated that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans annually. Our actions over the 10 years will determine the state of the ocean for the next 10,000 years to come.
Here are some staggering plastic pollution on our ocean statitstics:
The world produces 381 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly — this is set to double by 2034. 50% of this is single-use plastic & only 9% has ever been recycled.
More than 1 million plastic bags end up in the trash every minute.
1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption contains plastic.
More than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.
There is now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is around 1.6 million square kilometers — bigger than Texas.
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative application.
Glass is a material that can be recycled indefinitely without losing any quality. It can be melted down and transformed into a variety of products, from glass fibre to drinking glasses. Glass is taken to a manufacturing or recycling plant, where it is broken down into smaller pieces called cullet which can be re-manufactured to new recycled glass products.
Benefits of Recycling Glass
Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20% and related water pollution by 50%.
Recycling glass reduces the space in landfills that would otherwise be taken up by used bottles and jars.
How does Glass Recycling protect the Environment?
It may take up to a million years for a glass product to decompose after being disposed of in a landfill.
Glass products and materials are 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without losing their purity or quality. Every ton of glass that is recycled saves more than a ton of the raw materials needed to create new glass, which only necessitates the extraction of less natural resources like sand, limestone, and soda ash from the environment. Glass scraps are crushed into cullet, which can be melted down and utilized to create new glass items, promoting the circular economy.
Glass is considered as one of the easiest materials to recycle. Glass items should not be directed to landfills as they can be recycled, remanufactured to new products, and even help save natural resources by using less virgin materials.
The ocean is said to be Earth’s life support, with 97% of the world’s water held by the oceans. We rely on it to regulate our climate, absorb CO2 and oceans are the number one source of protein for over a billion people.
However, at the rate we are polluting the oceans, the damage we are doing to the marine life and ecosystem is becoming irreparable. It is estimated that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans annually. Our actions over the 10 years will determine the state of the ocean for the next 10,000 years to come.
Here are some staggering plastic pollution on our ocean statitstics:
The world produces 381 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly — this is set to double by 2034. 50% of this is single-use plastic & only 9% has ever been recycled.
More than 1 million plastic bags end up in the trash every minute.
1 in 3 fish caught for human consumption contains plastic.
More than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine animals die from plastic pollution every year.
There is now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is around 1.6 million square kilometers — bigger than Texas.
New season, new styles, buy more, buy cheap, move on, throw away: the pollution, waste, and emissions of fast fashion are fueling the triple planetary crisis.
The annual Black Friday sales on 25 November are a reminder of the need to rethink what is bought, what is thrown away, and what it costs the planet. Sustainable fashion and circularity in the textiles value chain are possible, yet this century the world’s consumers are buying more clothes and wearing them for less time than ever before, discarding garments as fast as trends shift.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is spearheading an initiative towards zero-waste; the only solution to the current situation.
Paper products are around us everyday and we may not think about what happens to it after it is tossed in the recycling bin.
Many of us start our days with paper — from reading the newspaper to the packaging of our favorite breakfast cereal to the milk carton we use along with it. If some of that milk spills, you can clean it right up with a paper towel.
The Upsides of Paper Recycling
In Abu Dhabi alone, 11.2 million tonnes of waste was produced by the emirate in 2019. This large amount of waste is due to a number of reasons, such as population growth, economic activities, and consumer shopping habits.
The environmental benefits of paper recycling cannot be understated. According to the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), recycling just one ton of paper can save 380 gallons of oil, 7000 gallons of water, and enough energy to power the average home for up to six months.
Paper recycling also conserves our natural resources. Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being torn down. Paper recycling has excellent benefits for businesses as well. Diverting paper from the landfill can dramatically reduce business waste costs, especially if the business churns a lot of paper products. Companies with recycling initiatives can often receive tax credits and will have a better shot at engaging with eco-conscious consumers who only want to do business with sustainable organizations.
The Paper Recycling Process
Recycled paper’s life cycle executes up to 6–7 times till the cellulose fibers become incapable of forming sheets. Here are the types of paper products that are recyclable:
Copy paper
Envelopes
Newspapers
Phone books
Notebooks
Catalogs
Magazines
Receipts
Paper shredders are good for concealing personal information from any prying eyes, but they make recycling more difficult. The small strips of shredded paper can easily become caught in the complex machinery of the recycling facility, damaging the machines or slowing down the entire process because the machines had to stop to rectify the stuck scraps. It is uncommon for curbside recycling services to accept shredded paper, but some do, so be sure to check with your local facility before leaving any out.
