PICVISA aims to contribute to textile circularity in the United States

The United States generates an enormous volume of textile waste each year, and the vast majority of it is still landfilled rather than recovered. As pressure grows – from regulators, brands and consumers alike – to build a more circular textile industry, PICVISA is working to bring its optical sorting technology to the U.S. market, supporting the infrastructure needed to turn discarded clothing back into usable material.

The term circularity describes a system in which garments and fabrics are designed, produced, used and recovered in a continuous loop, with the materials they contain returning again and again to make new textiles, rather than being used once and discarded. Today's textile industry operates almost entirely on the opposite model – a linear flow of raw materials in, and waste out – and closing that loop requires changes across the entire value chain, from design through to end-of-life sorting and recycling.

Third sector iniciatives

Across the U.S., a growing number of third-sector organisations – charities, non-profits and community collection programmes – play a central role in gathering used textiles before they ever reach landfill. These initiatives are essential for keeping garments in circulation through resale and reuse, but the volumes they collect that are not suitable for resale still need to be sorted by fibre composition before they can enter recycling streams.

This is where automated sorting technology becomes critical. PICVISA's ECOSORT TEXTIL system uses near-infrared sensors to identify the fibre composition of garments at industrial speed – distinguishing cotton, polyester, wool and blended fabrics – something that is simply not possible through manual inspection at the volumes involved. By partnering with collectors, recyclers and third-sector organisations in the U.S., PICVISA aims to help close the gap between the textiles that are collected and the textiles that are actually recovered, supporting the country's transition toward a more circular textile industry.

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