The textile recycling sector receives funding to boost innovation

The textile industry is under growing pressure to reduce its environmental footprint, and a new wave of public funding is aimed squarely at helping companies in the sector make that transition – from redesigning products for recyclability to investing in the recycling infrastructure needed to process textile waste at scale.

Circular Economy PERTE

In Spain, the PERTE for the Circular Economy (Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation) channels significant public investment into projects that advance circularity across several industrial sectors, including textiles, fashion and footwear. The programme is designed to support companies at different stages – from research and development of new recycling processes to the deployment of industrial-scale recycling facilities.

Lines of action

Funding under these programmes typically targets several lines of action: developing technologies that can sort and process mixed-fibre textile waste, which remains one of the biggest technical barriers to textile recycling; supporting collection and pre-processing infrastructure for post-consumer textiles; and helping manufacturers redesign products using mono-materials or recyclable components, making future recycling easier.

For technology providers like PICVISA, this kind of funding helps create the conditions for wider adoption of automated sorting systems – such as ECOSORT TEXTIL, which uses sensor-based technology to identify fibre composition and separate textile waste into streams suitable for different recycling processes. As more funding flows into the sector, the gap between the volume of textile waste generated and the capacity to process it is likely to start closing – provided the technology and infrastructure investments keep pace with the ambition.

Discover ECOSORT TEXTIL