CFIN is focused on building effective infrastructure and partnerships to optimise textile recycling processes, as well as laying the foundations for extended producer responsibility (EPR).

The objectives of the recycling infrastructure pillar are:

• To reduce environmental impact in the fashion and textiles supply-chain with a focus on post-consumer and post-industrial textiles.
• To identify infrastructure, market capacity, commercial viability, technology, workforce and skills gaps and opportunities to develop a national textile recycling infrastructure plan.
• To support circular policy targets.

Activities

National Textile Recycling Infrastructure Plan:

During the last quarter, UKFT has brought together stakeholders from the textile recycling supply-chain in post-consumer textile waste textile waste management to identify infrastructure, skills and workforce, market capacity and commercial viability, and technology gaps and opportunities to drive textile recycling. UKFT also conducted an in-depth review of the current status of local authorities post-consumer textile collection involving key local authorities. UKFT also conducted field visits to sorters and graders and is conducting an in-depth review of key operations, infrastructure and stakeholders involved in textile management in the UK.

In June, UKFT also held a ‘Driving Textile Recycling Through Policy’ webinar, bringing together a range of EU/UK key stakeholders – Veolia, EuRIC, EURATEX, West London Waste – to inform the government recommendations of the National Textile Recycling Infrastructure Plan.

As the EPR Sandbox project which ended in April, CFIN funded the development of an initial Open Data Standard Content to support the future development of standard industry data formats that can easily align with and report into a centralised EPR data system.