Il s'agit d'un processus de recyclage en aval dans lequel les fibres textiles sont transformées en matériaux de remplissage ou de rembourrage au lieu de finir dans les décharges ou d'être brûlées. Souvent, les fibres textiles ne peuvent pas être recyclées parce que les compositions des matériaux sont mélangées (par exemple, du polyester avec du coton). Dans ce processus, les déchets textiles sont déchiquetés ou transformés en petits morceaux qui peuvent être utilisés comme matériau de remplissage pour divers produits tels que des oreillers, des matelas ou des matériaux d'isolation. Il s'agit de l'une des méthodes de recyclage les plus simples, qui nécessite également peu d'énergie, mais dont l'utilisation est limitée.

Le slogan fait référence au processus consistant à détourner les déchets des décharges et à les réutiliser comme matériaux de remplissage. Les matériaux mis au rebut sont ainsi transformés en matériaux de remplissage utiles, ce qui leur donne une nouvelle utilité et réduit la quantité de déchets mis en décharge.

Les textiles mixtes sont difficiles à recycler et finissent souvent dans des décharges ou sont brûlés. Nous avons trouvé un moyen de les utiliser à bon escient. Ils sont incorporés comme matériaux de remplissage dans les parties non visibles de nos sacs et sacs à dos. Nous considérons qu'il s'agit d'une solution temporaire jusqu'à ce que des flux de recyclage fiables et mono-matériaux soient mis en place.

We look where others don‘t look. In the past, we followed the industry standard and also used PP boards (Polypropylene) and PE foams (Polyethylene) as fillers in our backpacks. They are used to make a backpack stiff and soft at the time. We were successful in replacing them with felt material from mixed industrial textile waste. This saves 4-5% of virgin fossil materials per backpack.

Fiber-to-fiber recycling is a closed-loop process where used textile fibers are transformed into new fibers for creating new textile products, reducing waste and maximizing material reuse. The process we use is called chemical recycling.

Il s'agit d'une méthode spéciale de recyclage des textiles dans laquelle les fibres synthétiques telles que le polyester sont décomposées en leurs éléments chimiques d'origine, puis utilisées pour fabriquer de nouvelles fibres synthétiques.

Le processus de recyclage chimique que nous utilisons est basé sur la saccharification, la fermentation et l'alcoolisation. Il en est encore à un stade précoce de développement technologique et de commercialisation. Notre première production en 2023 s'est déroulée dans des installations pilotes et était encore beaucoup plus coûteuse que le recyclage des bouteilles en fibres.

It will be a game changer for the textile industry. It is one of the most sustainable and scalable levers available. Once fully mature, estimates indicate that 70% of textile waste could be fiber-to-fiber recycled.
_{More information: Scaling textile recycling in Europe–turning waste into value, McKinsey, 2022}

Chemical recycling nowadays needs an input with 80% material purity. In our case, this means we need to have textiles with 80% polyester and max. 20% other fibers e.g. cotton. Also, the energy consumption is higher than in mechanical recycling. The higher the material purity, the less energy is needed for chemical recycling. That&"s why our goal is to make products from pure mono-fibers such as 100% PET.

Even so, more energy is needed than when recycling plastic bottles, but it&"s roughly 4x times less than that you need to put in virgin material. Numbers provided by Intertech show that the cumulative energy demand for 1kg of polyester chips from virgin polyester is 72 MJ (Megajoule). That of polyester chips from recycled textiles in chemical recycling is only 20 MJ. We assume the process will become more efficient over the years.

We're going all out here! 100% of the granules we gain in fiber-to-fiber recycling are from recycled textiles. We believe that we can only help to establish this technology when we buy large amounts. Other brands use an amount of 5-20% only and still sell it as &"recycled from textiles&".

Today it is still difficult to buy old clothing with only certain ingredients. The development of a uniform take-back system for textiles is not yet established. The material composition is still a matter of luck. For our chemical recycling process to run most efficiently, we need a high percentage of polyester. So half of the textiles come from used school and hospital uniforms and the other half are leftovers from cutting material of the garment industry. To save emissions in transportation this textile waste is sourced from China too. All of them are REACH compatible!

The usual material waste in a sewing workshop is around 15-20%. We have succeeded in reducing this proportion to around 10%. That is still a lot of material that is wasted, even if you consider that additional waste is generated with every material production. This adds up to around 28% of all materials used. We are working with our suppliers to reduce waste material and wherever possible, to return it to a circular process soon.

The very most items we produce were demanded by our customers, so there are no leftovers. Sometimes we discontinue products, so they get sold for a discounted price. Even items that get returned, get sold again after we have cleaned and checked them. The number of defective items which cannot be used again is very small – and would not have a positive effect on emissions if we send them back to our recycling facility in China.

Through our innovative measures, Ucon Acrobatics is already achieving extremely high rates of up to 85% of recycled textiles per product by weight. Thus, numerous products would already meet the criteria of "recyclable" or "circular". There is still no uniform take-back system for textiles close to every household yet. We support the process that the European Union plans to establish. Sending back products to us would cause additional emissions.