Facts

Project type
Research and Development
Project period
2021-2024
Project management
Danish Technological Institute
Partners
Danish Technological Institute, BESTSELLER, Elis, Design School Kolding, A/S Dansk Shell, Naboskab, Aarhus University, Fraunhofer
Project Management Design School Kolding
Karen Marie Hasling, Lab for Sustainability and Design

About ReSuit

ReSuit (Recycling Technologies and Sustainable Textile Product Design) gathers a number of leading players to achieve a more sustainable textile industry and recycle all textile waste in Denmark.

Every year, 100 billion textile units are produced worldwide. Many of them have a short life. Materials worth 400 billion euros are lost as we lack infrastructure and solid recycling technologies on a very large scale.

In this project, we are looking to get all textile waste in Denmark into a loop where it can become new textiles or raw materials for other products. 

The project group will address the textile problem from two angles: How can the textile industry get better at designing sustainably? And which technologies can ensure circularity for consumer textile waste? 

Sustainable textiles and motivated consumers

Regarding design, the focus is on sustainable design of textile products – that is textiles that are designed with recycling in mind.

As far as possible, the work must result in the phasing out of substances that are not suitable for future recycling technologies and in design guides for sustainable textile products.  

At the same time, it is important to map how consumers can be motivated to act sustainably. 

Chemical reuse of sorted clothes

When it comes to textile waste, the project focuses on the 85,000 tonnes of clothes and textiles that enter the Danish market every year. In the end, more than half of these materials are incinerated as waste.

From 2022, Denmark will start sorting clothes separately - and from 2025 the rest of the European Union will follow.

- Polyester accounts for half of all clothes fibres in the world. Therefore, we will further develop technology based on chemical purification to recycle the polyester materials so that they can return to the textile industry, says Anders Lindhardt from the Danish Technological Institute.

The remainder of the textile products must be degraded using so-called HTL technology (hydrothermal liquefaction). The process makes it possible – under the influence of water, heat and pressure – to convert the complex textile stream into oil products that can be used for the production of e.g. plastic, fuel or synthetic textile fibres. HTL is a well-known and robust technology, but it is ground-breaking to apply it to textiles. 

In the project, the HTL technology will be further developed and scaled up in collaboration with A/S Dansk Shell, which has successfully tested the possibility of refining bio-oil products and sees opportunities for recycling of other oil products. 

Project partners

ReSuit is a Grand Solutions project funded with DKK 13 mio. by Innovation Fund Denmark. The project partners are leading players within fashion and textiles, raw material production, and consumer behaviour, as well as recycling technology experts.

Danish Technological Institute (project manager)
Teknologisk Institut er et uafhængigt og almennyttigt forsknings- og udviklingsinstitut, der fremmer udnyttelsen af teknologiske fremskridt til gavn for erhvervsliv og samfund. Teknologisk Institut har over 1.000 specialister, der samarbejder på tværs inden for mange videnskabelige retninger. I dette projekt bidrager Teknologisk Institut med specialviden inden for blandt andet produktkemi og genanvendelsesteknologi.

Aarhus University 
Aarhus Universitet (AU) blev grundlagt i 1928 og er et landsdækkende universitet med 38.000 studerende, 1.800 ph.d.-studerende og 8.000 ansatte, hvoraf 4.500 er forskere. AU har et stærkt internationalt omdømme på tværs af hele forskningsspektret og er i den absolutte verdenselite inden for flere forskningsområder. Universitetet rangerer blandt verdens 10 bedste universiteter, der er grundlagt inden for de sidste 100 år og har en lang tradition for partnerskaber med topforskningsinstitutioner og universitetsnetværk i hele verden.

Fraunhofer
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, headquartered in Germany, is the world’s leading applied research organization. With its focus on developing key technologies that are vital for the future and enabling the commercial exploitation of this work by business and industry, Fraunhofer plays a central role in the innovation process. As a pioneer and catalyst for groundbreaking developments and scientific excellence, Fraunhofer helps shape society now and in the future. Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 75 institutes and research institutions throughout Germany. The majority of the organization’s 29,000 employees are qualified scientists and engineers, who work with an annual research budget of 2.8 billion euros. Of this sum, 2.4 billion euros are generated through contract research.

BESTSELLER
BESTSELLER er en international, familieejet modevirksomhed bestående af mere end 20 individuelle modebrands. I de senere år har BESTSELLER accelereret sin indsats for en bæredygtig udvikling af modeverdenen, blandt andet med sidste års lancering af den ambitiøse innovationsplatform ’Fashion FWD Lab’, hvor målet er at skabe fremtidens bæredygtige løsninger i samarbejde med verdens førende innovatorer. 

Elis
Elis Danmark A/S (tidligere Berendsen Textil Service A/S) tilbyder bæredygtige tekstil- og hygiejneløsninger og svanemærket vaskeriservice, hvor forbruget af vand, energi og vaskemidler ligger under Svanemærkets krav. Elis var én af de 10 første virksomheder i Danmark, der blev CSR-certificeret, og i 2019 blev Elis verdensmålcertificeret af Bureau Veritas som den første virksomhed i verden. Elis er tildelt en Kronesmiley af Arbejdstilsynet for at gøre en ekstraordinær indsats for at sikre en høj arbejdsmiljøstandard og 85 % af Elis Danmarks tekstiler har mindst ét af mærkerne: Svanemærket, EU-blomsten og OEKO-TEX. Elis koncernen er en international multiservice-leverandør, der tilbyder løsninger indenfor tekstil-, hygiejne- og facility services.

Design School Kolding
Designskolen Kolding er en selvejende videregående uddannelsesinstitution under Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet. Skolen dedikerer en betydelig del af sit uddannelses- og forskningsfokus til bæredygtighed med vægt på innovativ praksis og tæt samarbejde med virksomheder, offentlige institutioner og det øvrige samfund. Designskolen bidrager i dette projekt med designmetoder og viden om bl.a. materialer, produktion og brugere.

Shell
Shell Raffinaderiet i Fredericia producerer 35 procent af det danske forbrug af brændstof. Raffinaderiet leverer overskudsvarme til fjernvarme svarende til mere end 23.000 almindelige husstandes årlige forbrug af fjernvarme, hvilket gør raffinaderiet til Danmarks største leverandør af overskudsvarme. Desuden er raffinaderiet verdens tredje mest energieffektive af sin slags. Raffinaderiet har med succes testet muligheden for at kunne raffinere bilo-olieprodukter i det eksisterende anlæg og deltager i flere projekter omkring grønnere brændstoffer.

Naboskab
Naboskab er et grønt konsulenthus, der er specialiseret i at forstå og ændre adfærd. Naboskab bruger antropologiske metoder til at få indsigt i menneskers hverdag og undersøge, hvad der motiverer mennesker til mere bæredygtig adfærd og forbrug. I dette projekt bidrager Naboskab med viden og undersøgelser om mennesker og adfærd samt erfaring med at lave adfærdsstudier og designe tiltag, som skaber reelle bæredygtige løsninger.

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