Epson has entered into a joint development agreement with The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited (HKRITA), a Hong Kong-based R&D centre, to develop an innovative dry fibre recycling solution.
This collaboration, it was shared, has been spurred by growing environmental awareness globally and the trend of using recycled fibres, particularly in Europe.
In Europe, it was highlighted that countries are moving to increase the ratio of recycled fibres used and limit the use of petroleum-derived synthetic fibres.
However, a key barrier here is the current technology. The recycling process typically uses a garnett to separate the fibres in waste material, but is unable to effectively separate the fibres most commonly used in textiles in the apparel market, such as tightly woven fabrics and elastic blended fabrics.
HKRITA, which specialises in the development of innovative solutions for the textile, clothing, and fashion industry, and Epson aim to address this challenge.
Epson seeks to solve this problem by using its Dry Fiber Technology to establish a process for defibrating elastic blended fabrics and tightly woven fabrics, providing a new solution for recycling clothing fibres.
This solution, according to Epson, will help accelerate the use of recycled fibres by making it possible to separate fibres from challenging textiles.
Epson aims to establish the technology as soon as possible and implement it in the real world, it said.