Finite resources and endless mountains of rubbish set the tone of the upcoming 25th edition of PERFORMANCE DAYS. Closing the loop means nothing is wasted, not even time, as recycled clothing gets recycled again and again.
In keeping with this topic, the trade fair organizers are planning expert discussion panels to help present the facts as well asvisions ofthe future. Expect the corresponding displays of sustainable materials, chosen by the PERFORMANCE FORUM Jury.Look for materials such as fibers from recycled PET bottles, recyclable mono-component materialsor blends, and shirtsthat decomposeto biomassin a "Cradle-to-Cradle" approach.
"Nothing to Waste -Closing the Loop" is opento the public at the Messe München fairgroundsand as a Digital Fair onlinestarting on December 9-10, 2020.The PERFORMANCE DAYS trade fair has chosen a new Focus Topic that concerns not only our own industry. The textile industry has long been achieving more efficient production by recycling its own waste products and using recycledmaterials from outside the industry, for example, PET-bottles. Nevertheless, textiles exist alongside glass, paper, metal, and plastics as a separate branch of waste management. Despite ambitious effortsat recyclingby the waste and textile industries, the efficient use of textile waste as a resource remains a challenge.
Compounding this challenge are the difficulties caused by a global world:production, consumers, and disposal sites are miles apart, shared expert knowledge about the other industriesis lacking, and international standards and political supportare nearly non-existent. Final destination: the waste binInformation from the Federal Office for the Environment shows that 0.8% of the oil produced is used inthe textile industryfor the production of new textiles.1But the costly processingchain of this finite resource ends all too quickly in waste.
A Greenpeace survey reveals outdated fashions or clothing of worn quality is thrown away within three years,only to land in the trash dumpsters.The European Environmental Agency estimates that 5.8 million tons of used textiles are discarded everyyear and either incinerated, used forlandfill, or taken to mechanical-biological sewage treatment plants.2Even if used clothing is collected by state or private companies, in many cases it cannot be sold (as second hand), donated, or recycled (into rags or insulating material). In the best case scenario, it is incinerated and converted to thermal energy.
Recycling and circular designFrom an economic and environmental perspective, the term recycling refers to waste-free products, waste avoidance, and waste recovery and disposal. In our industry as it stands, recycling at the end of theproduct life cycleusually means converting the product into some other product, i.e.,not clothing. This is the "Open-Loop" process. Accordingly, textiles are eventually incinerated, but the amount of energy recovered can vary greatly depending on how efficiently the waste incineration plant works.