Motivation

The textile industry is a key global sector, valued at nearly €1.3 trillion and providing employment for over 300 million people. Over the past 20 years, fiber production has doubled and is expected to continue growing. However, the current model, based on a linear approach and driven by “fast fashion”, has led to major issues such as increasing textile waste, significant environmental impact, and reliance on resources like polyester. Without change, these problems could grow by 50% by 2030. In Spain alone, textile waste amounts to 1,100,000 tons per year.

AITEX, with experience in projects like CHEMUP and its successors, has conducted research on the chemical recycling of polyester (N9) and cotton (N4). Within the CHEMUP 2025 project, efforts will focus on optimizing glycolysis and polymerization processes for blends of polyester and cotton textiles (N6), as well as post-consumer polyester textiles, to obtain polyester-polyol glycols for polyurethane development. Additionally, the chemical recycling of other materials such as polyamides and polyurethanes (N3) will be studied.