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Australian start-up BlockTexx has begun work on what it claims will the the first textile recycling plant capable of separating and recycling blends of cotton and polyester fibres at scale.

BlockTexx, Australia’s first textile recycling facility, which will divert around 4,000 tonnes of textiles from landfill in its first year, is underway.

Chemical engineer Karen Cardona was recently appointed BlockTexx General Manager – Engineering and Technology and will oversee the new facility. She is currently setting up the operations and procedures at the plant, including managing trials with suppliers, working with project delivery partners and assisting the executive team with business development.

A world-first commercial plant designed to turn fabric into raw materials will also address the vast amounts of fast fashion heading for landfill.

A world-first commercial plant designed to turn fabric into raw materials will also address the vast amounts of fast fashion heading for landfill.

BlockTexx is now underway to build and commission its world-first, commercial-scale, textile resource recovery facility.

Australian fashion technology specialist BlockTexx has been awarded a grant worth more than AU$990,000 (US$766,000) by the country’s government as part of its Accelerating Commercialisation programme.

While it is imperative that the fashion industry increases its funding appetite, the time and opportunity has presented itself for investment to come from outside the fashion industry to realise the attractive returns on offer and deliver measurable impact.

BlockTexx announced as one of 11 startups to join the first Asian cohort of the End Plastic Waste Innovation Platform. The program to identifies the industry’s leading challenges and implement innovative solutions.

Otis Robinson speaks with Graham Ross, co-founder of BlockTexx, a company that aims to recycle textiles via chemical separation while pushing sector-agnostic circularity from its HQ in the global south.

Fashion and textile stakeholders join with industry magazine - Apparel Insider magazine to recognise "50 stars of sustainable textiles."

The magazine recently released a teaser of their upcoming feature piece that includes the BlockTexx founders.

As apparel insider highlighted; "Textile-textile separation via chemical process is, we believe, a potential game-changer in the global textile industry..."

The South Asia Innovation Programme (focused on India and Sri Lanka) brings together global and local apparel brands, manufacturers, investors and innovators, with the aim to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy and to scale the much-needed innovative solutions. 

TEXTILE EXCHANGE INSIDER SERIES The Insider series uncovers a rich and diverse set of stories from people who are really making a difference in textile sustainability.

TEXTILE RECYCLING PIONEERS WEAVE THEIR MAGIC Australian start-up BlockTexx has developed technology to separate and recover polyester and cotton products such as clothes, sheets and towels of any colour and in any condition. The solution yields ‘high-value’ raw materials of PET and cellulose, said to be suitable across all industries.

THE RECYCLING REVOLUTIONARIES

"While countless industry executives will continue to cite the circular economy in conference speeches, it is the work of companies such as BlockTexx which is transforming that rhetoric from hollow green wash into a viable solution."

AUSTRALIA RECYCLES PAPER AND PLASTICS. SO WHY DOES CLOTHING END UP IN LANDFILL?

It’s time for bold action. The impact of textile waste is a reality and governments across Australia must recognise the challenge and begin to address it. It’s time to acknowledge textile waste for what it is: a valuable resource ready to be transformed into raw materials.

‘WHAT WE’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR’: HOW AUSTRALIAN STARTUP BLOCKTEXX IS TURNING DISCARDED CLOTHES INTO RAW, COMMODITY-LEVEL PLASTIC.

START-UP LOOKS TO TAKE THE SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK - AND RECYCLE IT

“People have a weird relationship with their clothes; we recycle plastic bottles because you wouldn’t put a plastic bottle in the ocean, you wouldn’t drop one in the street, because we’ve been told they’re bad for the environment,”

'HOLY GRAIL': HOW TEXTILE RECYCLING CAN HELP SLASH EMISSIONS, POLLUTION AND LANDFILL

Adrian Jones and Graham Ross have pioneered a process that takes blended fabrics and reduces them to raw components.