Life Cirtechtex
On November 12th, the Leitat Technological Center (Terrassa) hosted the “From Eco-design to Textile” workshop, an event dedicated to exploring the current challenges and opportunities facing the textile industry in the fields of eco-design, circularity and recycling. During the session, several initiatives and projects aligned with the transition to a more sustainable production model were presented, including the LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project, focused on pre- and post-consumer textile recycling.
Throughout the event, companies from across the sector shared their success use-cases, as well as the concerns, challenges and needs they face when implementing circular solutions within the textile value chain. This exchange provided valuable insight into strengths, common barriers and key areas for improvement to accelerate eco-design adoption.
Participants also received an update on the upcoming European regulations that will shape the textile sector in the coming years, particularly those related to eco-design—an essential pillar for advancing a more sustainable and efficient industry.
The LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project is proud to have taken part in this workshop and continues to work towards the development of technologies and processes that support a more circular, efficient and responsible textile economy.
From November 4th to 7th, the LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project took part in the A+A Trade Fair in Düsseldorf (Germany), one of the world’s leading international events focused on occupational safety, health, and technical textiles.
In this edition, Marina Textil, coordinator of the project, presented the progress of CIRTECHTEX, an initiative funded by the European LIFE Programme that aims to promote circular economy practices in the field of technical fabrics.
The project seeks to develop technical fabrics with recycled materials, reusing waste generated throughout the textile value chain while maintaining the required standards of protection and performance.
During the fair, Tranemo actively participated at the booth, allowing the project’s progress to be presented and knowledge exchanged between the attending partners.
The LIFE-CIRTECHTEX consortium is composed of:
Marina Textil, Tèxtils.cat, Leitat, Tranemo, Grau, Fil Man Made Group, Fontfilva, and Blaufabric.
Participation in the A+A Fair has been an excellent opportunity to enhance the visibility of the project, exchange experiences, and continue advancing toward a more sustainable and circular technical textile industry.
On October 1st, Marina Textil hosted the annual consortium meeting of the European project LIFE-CIRTECHTEX at its facilities in Barcelona, Spain.
This yearly gathering provided a valuable opportunity to review the progress achieved over the past year, share results and challenges, and plan the next steps to continue advancing towards the project’s objectives.
For those who have recently discovered the project; LIFE-CIRTECHTEX aims to implement a circular economy approach to drastically reduce the generation of technical textile waste and recycle it into high-quality protective fabrics (PPE). The project’s goal is to achieve the use of at least 20% recycled material.
The project consortium is composed of Marina Textil (coordinator), Fil Man Made, Fontfilva, Blaufabric, Grau, Tranemo, LEITAT, and Tèxtils.cat.
The meeting was highly productive and dynamic, with all partners actively participating in discussions and sharing insights in a collaborative atmosphere. Together, the consortium continues to make significant progress toward promoting sustainability and circularity in the technical textile sector.
LIFE-CIRTECHTEX consortium is now working on the recycling processes and products development for three different lines.
Last June, the member of the consortium Marina Textil held an internal training for employees about how to proceed with the recycling process developed in the project. Marina Textil, together with other industrial partners form CIRTECHTEX consortium, has develop a guideline about the material collection. Training was crucial to show how the internal work need to be adapted for correct circular process of material collection for its recycling. Results are good and the steps are well implemented, so by this Marina Textil ensure excellent traceability and quality of collected material.
On the other hand, all supply chain consortium partners also did the internal trainings using guideline created, with success, as in this project it’s very important that whole supply chain collaborate to ensure the quality and traceability of collected materials.
Now Marina Textil, together with consortium partners is making trials and samples of recycled yarns and fabrics and this leads to firsts prototypes.
The CIRTECHTEX partners recently gathered for their annual meeting, it was held by Marina Textil located in Barcelona, Spain. The event took place on the 17th of September in Marina Textil’s facilities. This assembly offered valuable platform for partners to share updates on their work, address current challenges, and discuss future steps for the project.
Over the course of this meeting, the partners engaged in detailed discussions about the progress in each work package. The key focus areas included:
- Management updates and remainders
- Current status of the technical work
- Partners have discussed and explained the tasks performed regarding the collection of the waste, the training, first trials done, first data collected and the issues found on the way
- Dissemination and communication done
CIRTECHTEX would like to thank to all participants for the involvement during the meeting and during last months of the project.
CIRTECHTEX AT TECHTEXTIL
Recently the Techtextil fair was held in Frankfurt, one of the most important fairs in the technical textiles sector, where Marina Textil had the opportunity to exhibit the CIRTECHTEX project.
It is a project funded by the European LIFE programme, which aims to provide thermal solutions in circular economy within the market of technical textiles. The aim is to achieve technical fabrics incorporating the highest possible percentage of recycled material from all the waste generated throughout the textile chain.
The attendance of some partners at the fair was an excellent opportunity to meet and discuss progress in the development of the project. Thanks to AEI Tèxtils, Tranemo, FilManMadeGroup, Leitat, Grau and Blaufabric for being part of this sustainable project.
CIRTECHTEX LAUNCHES ITS 1ST NEWSLETTER
CIRTECHTEX has just released its 1st newsletter that features the project progress and current status, the latest news and the ongoing activities.
In this issue, the most relevant information is the general overview of the project and the goals, the lates news about the meeting held among all partners in late September. The Newsletter contains links to the official website of the project and contact link.
The Newsletter, along with other public documents related to the identity and reporting of the project will be available in the “Publications” website section.
LIFE-CIRTECHTEX PROJECT KICKS OFF, FOCUSING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIRCULAR MODEL IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT.
September 28th, the starting meeting of the LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project (Implementation of circular economy processes to reduce toxic waste in the manufacture of personal protective equipment) took place at the Marina Textil facilities.
What is the objective of the LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project?
The LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project aims to focus on the circular economy to drastically reduce the generation of technical textile waste and to be able to recycle it into high quality personal protective equipment fabrics, through a methodology of waste collection (pre- and post-consumer) and recycling.
Over the next three years, the consortium will carry out a study of the waste generated during the manufacturing chain of personal protective equipment, specifically in the case of Marina Textil and partner companies, with the aim of defining, classifying and reintroducing it into the process. When a policeman obtains a new product made % of recycled material, its environmental characteristics are studied.
Which companies are involved?
The consortium of the LIFE-CIRTECHTEX project is made up of various companies in the textile value chain, from the manufacture of the yarn to the analysis of the final product, coming from three European countries.
Marina Textil is the coordinator of the project, together with other companies associated with its value chain such as Blaufabric, Fontfilva, Grau S.A. (all three located in Catalonia), Fil Man Made (Italy) and Tranemo (Sweden). LEITAT and AEI tèxils are also participating in order to contribute a wide range of knowledge and resources to this innovative initiative.
CIRTECTEX PROJECT KICK-OFF – EMPOWER SOSTENIBLE ECONOMY WITH CIRCULAR TECHNICAL TEXTILE.
The CIRTECHTEX project funded by LIFE programmed has officially started on 1st of June 2023, the consortium is now preparing the Kick-off Meeting (KoM) scheduled for the 28th of September 2023 in the Marina Textil’s facilities, which is the coordinator of the project. All eight CIRTECHTEX project partners will meet for the first time in person in Spain. The event will set the ground for the technical work for the next 3 project’s years. Partners will discuss all important aspects of the technical, management, communication and dissemination.
Technical textiles are crucial to keep workers safe in high-risk industries such as foundries, petrochemical, electricity generation and manipulation or welding. Those industries need high protective level garments that can prevent burns and injuries (thermal, electric, or chemical). The fabrics for those personal protective equipment (PPE) must meet stringent standards to effectively protect the workers.
During the manufacture of the different PPE fabrics along the textile value chain, several material waste is generated. This waste is highly valuable as it is made of high-performance technical materials, which differs from commodities used in fashion. While at domestic level clothes have their own recycling programs (e.g. European Clothing Action Plan) and regulations (e.g. mandatory textiles separate collection by 2025), those are lacking in technical textiles’ sector for industrial applications.
The project will address the circular economy approach at its specific case in the technical fabrics for PPEs’ sector, where no similar solutions are yet available. This project ambition is to uptake circular economy approach to dramatically reduce technical textiles’ waste generation and upcycle them into high-grade PPE fabrics. The consortium envisions a changing paradigm towards sustainability and commits to an environmentally friendly vision in high-end market segments.
The aim of the project is to achieve the recycling of textile waste from the value chain, using a minimum of 20% recycled material in a minimum of the 80% of PPEs manufactured. These values will be achieved using a waste collection (pre and post consumer) and recycling methodology.
Project Reports
Project website and dedicated project page on the beneficiaries websites
Communication materials
Cirtechtex communication tools
Cirtechtex Newsletter
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.