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Sorting for Circularity India: Pre-Consumer Pilot Learnings

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Sorting for Circularity India: Pre-Consumer Pilot Learnings

Brands: Building partnerships with Tier 4 recyclers

When producing a circular product, more engagement is required with Tier 4 (recycling partners) than is typically needed for a Tier 4 fibre producer within a linear supply chain. This design-led approach is critical for the brand to not only produce recycled products effectively but also, to properly benefit from textile waste management. Building relationships with existing and emerging recycling technologies will be critical to make sure recycle fibre supply chains are established.

Scale the Digitisation of textile waste: Segregation and tracing

The industry would benefit from the momentum created to continue and increase the volume of textile waste being segregated and increase the transparency across all textile waste streams that get generated.

  • This would enable brands to effectively monitor and create benchmarks for waste related targets (Zero waste to landfill etc.) and scale textile to textile recycling targets whilst proving they have closed the loop on their linear supply chain.
  • Manufacturers can benefit from establishing more control over their waste, be better placed to identify opportunities for recycling and effective valorisation of their waste. Even if the fibre can not be brought back into their supply chain or recycled back into a new garment with today’s current technology. Producing garments within a verified circular supply chain or that at a minimum level proves all waste has reached its best recycling use case creates a value or premium to their products.
  • Recyclers can build efficient and stable waste supply chains. Through the tracing of waste they can access the background data on the textile they are recycling (chemical compliance, non Xinjiang etc) and monitor the compliance within their waste handling supply network.

Scaling by onboard existing waste handling partners

Manufacturers can onboard their existing waste handling partners on the RR platform to enable effective scaling. This would enable the trace, provide transparency for brand partners and validate “Zero waste to Landfill” claims, whilst also positioning the manufacturer (and their brand partners) to more effectively steer waste towards preferred recycling partners.

Regional Onboarding required for India

To accumulate sufficient volumes and create efficient and cost effective waste feedstock supply chains a regional approach for onboarding factories should be used within the context of India. This would enable larger volumes of waste to reach a higher value use case.

Waste mapping across brand’s global supply chains.

Conducting waste mapping across brands’ global supply chains can be straightforward and fast-paced for brands (brands can complete a waste mapping report within 60-90 Days through RR Platform). This report will identify:

  • Data on waste volumes across different regions, in what form is that waste and the fibre composition.
  • Data on the disposal methods of the waste: how much is incinerated, already being recycled into new textile fibre, sold on or landfilled.
  • An analysis on the current best recycling use case for the waste. What is the recycling potential today and how will this change and evolve over the next 5 years.
  • Calculating the circular opportunities within a brands supply chain and identifying regions for scaling in the short-term vs long-term, where waste can be more effectively valorised into new products, and via which recycling channel.