Polyester recycling plant opens in UK: In Kettering, Northamptonshire, a recycling centre run by The Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL) recently started working. This centre has special machines that can recycle old clothes and other fabric waste into small pellets.
These pellets are made of polyester, a material commonly used in clothes. The idea is to take old polyester items, like clothes people don’t want anymore, and turn them into something new.
Usually, when you hear about “recycled polyester” clothes, they’re made from things like plastic bottles, not from old clothes. So, this way of recycling clothes directly into new clothes is pretty new in the fashion world.
Tim Cross, who leads a project called Project Plan B, thinks this is a big deal. He says in the UK alone, tons of old clothes get thrown away every year. But now, instead of being thrown out, these clothes can be turned into something useful again. This not only helps the environment by reducing waste but also cuts down on carbon emissions, which is good for the planet.
The recycling centre plans to recycle 2,500 tons of old polyester this year and even more next year. They hope to start using these recycled pellets to make new clothes by the end of 2024.
This news is especially good because the Textile Recycling Association has warned that there might not be enough places to recycle old clothes in the UK. So, having a new recycling centre like this is really helpful.
Majonne Frost, who works on environment and sustainability at The Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd (SATCoL), is excited about this partnership. They’re teaming up with other organizations to make sure old clothes get recycled on a big scale.
This way, they’re trying to create a circular economy for textiles, where old clothes don’t get wasted but instead get turned into something new.
