Textile Recycling Technologies, Colouring and Finishing Methods

3.3.2 Cotton Recovery and Recycling 
Cotton recovery and recycling provides alternatives to both the diversion of waste from landfill, 
and raw material production utilizing agricultural land. The mechanical recycling of cotton from 
is well established and is applied to both pre- and post-consumer waste, an generally entails the 
respinning of recycled combined with virgin material, without additional chemicals.
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The majority 
of chemical recycling processes of cotton is in developmental stage, or close to commercial 
adoption, and include either dissolution processes to recover the cellulosic fibres, or 
depolymerization processes to generate other by-products, namely regenerated man-made 
cellulosics.
The overall ecological advantages of recycled cotton fibres include, lower water and energy 
requirements (20% lower), fewer chemicals, and lower emissions generation and natural resource 
consumption owing to the elimination of farming operations associated with conventional cotton 
production.
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3.3.2.1 Mechanical Recycling 
The general process of mechanical recycling of cotton for apparel applications involves the 
respinning of waste fibres. Given that the mechanical process breaks the fibre, quality and strength 
are reduced and therefore, the recovered staple fibre must be blended with either virgin cotton 
fibres or other fibres to impart both increased strength, and to provide colour matching, thereby 
eliminating the need for re-dyeing. Other applications that utilize pre-consumer and post-consumer 
cotton as feedstock materials include a variety of nonwovens used for insulation, automotive felts, 
oil sorbent sheeting. The main challenge cited for widespread commercial adoption of closed-loop 
respinning lies in facilitating logistical support to increase volume of material collected and 
processed.
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The process flow diagram in Figure 16 details the options for mechanical recycling of cotton to 
produce respun fibre for apparel, and blended materials for various applications. 
Figure 16: Overview of mechanical recycling process of cotton. 
Produced from [88]. 

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