Circulary

Schijvens produces post-consumer corporate garment made of recycled yarns by combining 50% of recycled textile and 50% of recycled PET. Schijvens does so by collecting worn out uniforms and PET bottles later used in the process.

To obtain the final fibre, both post-consumer textile and post-consumer PET bottles are mixed:

1. Post-consumer textile waste is first cut in large pieces, then the fabric is pulled apart with spiked rollers to finally get semi-finished yarn; in the spinning process the fibre is twisted until it is strong and long enough
2. After removing the labels from PET bottles, the bottles are crushed into small pieces; the plastic is then heated and drawn to form threads

• No need for new raw materials
• No waste as the clothes that the company produces is also collected after being worn out to further go into recycling
• The process saves 40% of energy and +/- 99% of water as well as reduces CO2 emissions

• Regulatory: exporting old uniforms to a dedicated recycling plant in Turkey is restricted and can be done if the clothing items are damaged, which would require an additional operation.
• Financial: high costs of return logistics

Shirley Schijvens

0031-135051111

shirley.schijvens@schijvens.nl