From the Sector

Carpets and upholstery fabrics from ships and hotels have significant recycling potential that is not currently being fully utilised. A Danish partnership aims to change that.

Many offices, hotels, ships and other public spaces are fitted with carpets and upholstery fabrics made from wool-nylon blends. The combination of materials gives the products a very long lifespan, but complicates the recycling process when they are replaced. Manufacturers, researchers and knowledge partners have joined forces in the UnBlend partnership, which aims to make textiles easier to reuse and recycle.

Aiming to extend the lifespan of wool-nylon textiles
Tons of high-quality carpets and upholstery fabrics go up in smoke when offices, hotels, ships, libraries, theatres and other public spaces refurbish their interiors. In the EU alone, an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of carpets are disposed of every year, and the vast majority are incinerated or end up in landfill.

The challenge with carpets and upholstery fabrics is that the textiles often consist of complex blended materials such as wool and nylon, which are currently difficult to recycle, even though the material quality is high. It’s a shame, says Business Manager Julie Brender Trads from Danish Technological Institute, who heads the UnBlend partnership:

– Wool-nylon blends are high-quality materials that are easily overlooked because they make up only a small part of the total textile stream. On the other hand, it is a large and uniform textile stream that can be collected when a hotel or ship changes its interior or undergoes renovation. A cruise ship can easily be covered with enough carpet to cover 5–10 football pitches. These large quantities are an advantage when the ambition is large-scale recycling.

From circular design to unique products
UnBlend takes a holistic approach to the challenge of wool-nylon blends. Rather than focusing solely on a single technical solution, the project partners are working in parallel on three tracks: better design, creative reuse and recycling technologies.

The design track explores how products can be constructed more intelligently, for example using fewer types of adhesive and more appropriate material combinations, facilitating later disassembly and recycling among other things. At the same time, the partners are experimenting with reusing and redesigning textile scraps into unique products. Finally, existing and new recycling technologies are being tested to find effective methods for separating wool and nylon, so that the two fibres can be recycled separately and returned to the cycle.

– If we succeed in separating wool and nylon effectively, we can ensure the continuous recycling of high-quality materials. By recycling materials in a closed loop, we can simultaneously reduce the environmental impact significantly compared to wool and nylon produced from new raw materials, says Jeppe Emil Mogensen, Design Director at the textile company Gabriel.

Interdisciplinary collaboration as a prerequisite
The UnBlend partnership was established by Danish Technological Institute, which has brought together textile manufacturers (Gabriel, Dansk Wilton, SheWorks), researchers and knowledge partners (DTU and Danish Technological Institute) and designers (Design School Kolding).

– For many years, we have been working in various ways on solutions within circularity and recycling, but there is a lack of commercial solutions for our type of material composition. That is why it is relevant for us to be part of UnBlend, which brings together many areas of expertise and enables new solutions, says Lone Ditmer, CEO at Dansk Wilton, a global manufacturer of carpets for the international hospitality industry.

About UnBlend
UnBlend is supported by just under DKK 11 million from TRACE and will run for two years. TRACE is a mission-driven research and innovation partnership working to create a circular economy for plastics and textiles by 2050.

Partners: Gabriel, SheWorks, Dansk Wilton, DTU, Design School Kolding and the Danish Technological Institute.

Wool-nylon blends are currently used in large quantities on cruise ships, in hotels, offices and public buildings, particularly in carpets and furniture upholstery. Yet tonnes of high-quality carpets and furniture textiles are sent for incineration or landfill when interiors are replaced.

Fashion for Good launched the Mass Balance Demonstrator project, a collaborative industry initiative to implement and scale the mass balance attribution (MBA) chain-of-custody model for biomass-attributed PET in textile applications. The project represents a concrete step toward accelerating brand-driven decarbonisation across the apparel value chain.

While the portfolio of both preferred existing and next-generation materials offers opportunities for decarbonising the apparel industry, biosynthetics currently represent only a small fraction in material projections for 2030. The reality is that the dedicated commercial scale infrastructure required for biosynthetic materials is not yet fully developed, keeping production volumes prohibitively low and costs too high for widespread industry transition, despite their validated technical performance.

Borrowed from industries such as renewable energy and sustainable wood and paper, the mass balance attribution is a chain-of-custody model which allows renewable and fossil-based feedstocks to be physically mixed. It tracks how much renewable input entered the system and proportionally allocates that amount to the outputs, verified through audits and certification bodies. 

HOW DOES MASS BALANCE ATTRIBUTION (MBA) WORK
A chemical manufacturer introduces renewable feedstocks (such as agricultural residues or used cooking oil) into a production system that also processes fossil-based feedstocks. These feedstocks move through the same infrastructure and chemical processes, and by the time they become resin, they are chemically indistinguishable. The amount of renewable feedstock entering the system is carefully measured and recorded through a verified accounting system, creating a record of renewable input while accounting for process losses and conversion factors.

That accounted input is then allocated to specific products using mass balance principles. If 30% of the feedstock entering the system is renewable, a corresponding share of the output can carry a renewable attribution. In this project, this will be the biomass-attributed polyester (PET) but it could also be used for other fibres such as nylon. This does not necessarily mean each product physically contains renewable content; rather, the claim reflects the share of renewable input assigned to that product. Crucially, the system is strictly controlled: producers cannot allocate more renewable attribution than the amount of renewable feedstock entering the system, and once attributed, those certified attributes cannot be counted again elsewhere.

“We are at a point where the industry wants to move and adopt biosynthetics, but the production frameworks and commercial infrastructure haven’t caught up. The Mass Balance Demonstrator project is about closing that gap: building the impact and commercial evidence, the blueprint, and the feedback loops that will allow the MBA model to scale with integrity.” Katrin Ley, Managing Director at Fashion for Good. 

THE GOALS OF THE PROJECT
The Mass Balance Demonstrator project, an initiative led by Fashion for Good, brings together BESTSELLER, Beyond Yoga (Levi Strauss & Co.), ON, Paradise Textiles, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Indorama Ventures, ISCC, UPM Biochemicals, and Textile Exchange. The consortium is designed not only to demonstrate what is possible today, but to generate insights that the wider industry can build on now and in the future.

“Polyester is our second biggest fiber by volume in BESTSELLER, which means we are continuously investigating improvements in this category. By taking part in this project we as a company are building experience within mass balance attribution and bio-attributed polyester. Hopefully, as we collaborate with other great partners, this can initiate pathways that can support scaling of renewable feedstocks (or inputs) going forward.” Anders Schorling Overgård, Material Research Lead at BESTSELLER

At its core, the project adopts and implements the mass balance attribution chain-of-custody model to enable the production of biomass-attributed PET for textile applications, demonstrating that existing manufacturing systems can integrate renewable feedstocks today. The project is structured around four interconnected objectives:

• Producing biomass-attributed materials: the project will physically produce biomass-attributed resin and yarns, generating real-world output that matches performance parity.
• Quantifying the climate impact: a comprehensive cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions model will be developed for the produced materials, delivering science-based insights into their decarbonisation potential and overall environmental footprint.
• Developing a blueprint for industry scale-up: the project will deliver a practical roadmap for scaling biomass-attributed PET in the apparel sector, identifying key supply chain actors, assessing lifecycle accounting approaches for different chain-of-custody models, and evaluating the techno-economic feasibility of market deployment.
• Informing climate frameworks and industry standards: insights from the project will be shared with climate initiatives and standard-setting bodies to help credible guidance on mass balance attribution.

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc., a leader in spider silk technology, announced a significant expansion of its research and development capacity designed to keep pace with rapid progress of its advanced materials initiative, Project Atlas.

The Company has expanded its laboratory capabilities, onboarding new scientific personnel and the deployment of new advanced equipment. These improvements have roughly tripled screening throughput, allowing the R&D team to keep up with the rapid development of new transgenics.

Kraig Labs implemented these upgrades in direct response to the rapid technical progress made under Project Atlas. Atlas is the Company’s next-generation recombinant spider silk program focused on creating advanced biomaterials with potential industrial and defense applications.

The recently commissioned equipment streamlines the screening of newly created transgenic lines and the analysis of their resulting spider silk expression levels. Project Atlas is now generating significant numbers of transgenics and potential candidates for new production materials. This expanded screening capacity was needed to keep pace with the rate of new transgenic creation, which is now at the highest levels in the Company’s history. By automating portions of the testing workflow, Kraig Labs can now rapidly process and evaluate significantly more samples, quickly identifying new, exciting transgenics.

In addition to the increased screening capacity, Kraig Labs also strengthened its analytical testing capabilities. These tools provide deeper insight into the expression levels and functional impact of each engineered transgenic line. This enhanced visibility allows the research team to identify the most promising genetic designs and prioritize them for advancement into the Company’s production pipeline.

“With the pace of discovery we are seeing in Project Atlas, it became clear that we needed to expand our screening and analysis capacity to keep up with the speed of innovation,” said Kim Thompson, Founder and CEO of Kraig Labs. “This investment in staff and technology further strengthens our position as a leader in advanced biomaterials. We believe we have a wide lead on our competitors, and it is the goal of this investment to expand that lead further.”

Dr. Zhang, the Company’s Chief Scientist, emphasized the impact these upgrades will have on the research pipeline.

“Project Atlas involves the creation and evaluation of numerous complex genetic constructs designed to work together to produce highly specialized silk proteins,” said Dr. Zhang. “The expansion of our testing infrastructure dramatically increases our testing capacity to match the increased pace of transgenic creation. We can now analyze many more transgenic lines in parallel and better quantify how each genetic insert is performing. This level of screening power is essential for isolating the highest-performing lines and rapidly advancing them into production.”

By significantly increasing screening capacity and analytical insight, Kraig Labs expects to shorten development timelines and improve its ability to identify breakthrough material candidates.

With the official kick-off event of the Textilfabrik 7.0 (T7), a major transformation project for the German textile and apparel industry has been launched in the Monforts Quarter in Mönchengladbach. At the “Textile Roundtable,” an event format organized by the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier, representatives from industry, research, politics, and the regional economy came together to jointly lay the foundation for CO₂-neutral, circular, and economically viable textile production in Germany.

The textile and fashion industry worldwide faces major challenges: around ten percent of global CO₂ emissions are attributed to it. At the same time, companies in Germany are under considerable competitive pressure. Textilfabrik 7.0 addresses precisely this intersection by bringing together research institutions, industry, and regional stakeholders to accelerate the transfer of innovative technologies and production processes into industrial application.

Silke Krebs, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia emphasizes that the T7 project actively drives the transformation of the Rhenish mining region into a modern industrial hub. It combines innovative, sustainable textile production with research, development, and the use of AI and robotics. At the same time, it strengthens the region’s competitiveness and creates new jobs across all qualification levels. T7 demonstrates that structural change offers concrete opportunities for a future-proof industry.

For Felix Heinrichs, Mayor of the City of Mönchengladbach, it is evident that when thinking of textiles, you cannot overlook Mönchengladbach. Textile production is deeply embedded in the industrial DNA of Mönchengladbach. But it also has the potential to play a key role in the future of the city as a business location. Textilfabrik 7.0 brings industry and academia together for innovation and research. In doing so, it lays the foundation for sustainable and economically viable textile production - and thus for future-proof jobs in Mönchengladbach. Today’s launch of the T7 project marks a major milestone in the city’s structural transformation.

The kick-off event was aimed in particular at companies along the entire textile value chain. In several keynote presentations, participants gained insights into current developments and potential applications of future production models. Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH and Hch. Kettelhack GmbH & Co. KG demonstrated how on-demand production can be integrated into microfactory concepts, enabling flexible, demand-driven manufacturing processes.

In addition, 3E Smart Solutions presented how intelligent production for smart textiles could look in the future. The industry cluster Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB) showcased approaches for using biotechnological processes, such as microorganisms, in textile production to improve resource efficiency and close material loops.

At the heart of Textilfabrik 7.0 are four core modules: On-Demand Manufacturing, MicroFactory Engineering, Digital Textiles, and Biosphere. These topics also formed the basis for four workshops in which participants discussed with module leaders what requirements industry has for future production solutions. The goal was to identify concrete needs and incorporate them directly into further project planning.

Through its real-world lab approach, T7 aims to test and optimize new technologies along the entire textile value chain. These include robotics, digital process chains, and biotechnological methods that can help establish a functioning circular economy in practice.

Professor Dr. Susanne Meyer, President of Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences states that the Textilfabrik 7.0 exemplifies what applied research must achieve today: bringing together science, industry, and society to develop concrete solutions to the major challenges of our time. Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences contributes their textile expertise specifically to this future-oriented project, from digital production processes and sustainable materials to circular value creation models. In doing so, there is a contribution not only to the transformation of the textile industry but also to the innovative capacity and future viability of the entire region.

At the same time, the project makes an important contribution to structural change in the Rhenish mining region. Under the guiding principle “From Coal to AI,” new perspectives for industrial value creation and skilled employment are emerging in the region. Textilfabrik 7.0 is one of 19 anchor projects in the Rhenish mining region and is considered by the state to be central to the successful, rapid, and visible implementation of structural transformation.

Textilfabrik 7.0 is a joint project of the Research Institute for Textile and Clothing (FTB) at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences (HSNR), the Institute for Textile Technology (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University, the Association of the North-West German Textile and Clothing Industry, the Association of the Rhenish Textile and Clothing Industry, the Textile Academy NRW, and WFMG – Mönchengladbach Economic Development Corporation.

In einer zweiten Entwicklungsphase soll über die Textilfabrik 7.0 hinausgehend ein Industriepark der Zukunft entstehen. Hier entwickelt und produziert die Textil- und Bekleidungsindustrie unter Zero-Emission-Bedingungen und mit CO₂-neutralen Prozessen. Der Industriepark soll Raum bieten für innovative Produktionsstätten, Unternehmensniederlassungen der Textilbranche sowie nachhaltige Textil-Start-ups. So entsteht ein moderner Industriestandort, der Forschung, Entwicklung und industrielle Produktion miteinander verbindet.

In a second development phase, a future industrial park is planned to be created beyond Textilfabrik 7.0. Here, the textile and apparel industry will develop and produce under zero-emission conditions and with CO₂-neutral processes. The industrial park will provide space for innovative production facilities, company branches in the textile sector, and sustainable textile start-ups. This will create a modern industrial hub that combines research, development, and industrial production.

The project Textilfabrik 7.0 is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) under the “STARK” funding guideline to strengthen transformation dynamics and promote new beginnings in coal regions and coal-fired power plant locations, by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia through the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy (MWIKE) in accordance with the framework guideline for implementing the Investment Act for Coal Regions (InvKG) NRW, and by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).

EREMA and the Arvind Mehta Technology & Entrepreneurship Centre (AMTEC) of the The All India Plastics Manufacturers Association (AIPMA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during a formal ceremony on 5 February 2026, marking the launch of a new Recycling Skill Center in Mumbai. The initiative provides a strong impulse for practice-oriented training in plastic recycling and makes an important contribution to further strengthening the circular economy in India.

The new training centre is being established at AMTEC in Mumbai by the end of May 2026. It aims to help meeting the growing demand for qualified professionals – in particular operators and supervisor – in India’s plastic recycling sector over the long term. At the core of the program is a 72-hour training course that combines theoretical foundation with practical, hands-on instruction. To support the training operations, EREMA is providing an INTAREMA® 605 TE recycling machine with a capacity of 50–100 kg/h free of charge, enabling participants to learn under real industrial conditions.

Joint initiative strengthens skills and technological expertise
“We are pleased to be part of this initiative, which sends a strong signal for the further development of plastic recycling in India. Close and trusting collaboration between India and Europe is essential for a sustainable shared future,” emphasised Markus Huber-Lindinger, Managing Director at EREMA, during the signing ceremony. “High-end technology unfolds its full potential when operated by well-trained professionals. With this centre, we are making an important contribution to providing tomorrow’s specialists with an optimal foundation for their professional careers.”

Arvind Mehta, Chairman of AIPMA’s AMTEC & AIPMA Governing Council, also highlighted the importance of the partnership: “With this new training centre, we are closing the previously existing gap between theoretical and practice oriented education. Working together with EREMA enables us to teach students, operators and supervisors directly on industrial equipment and thus develop a new quality of skilled professionals for India’s recycling industry.”

Qualified professionals for the industry of tomorrow
The program curriculum is developed by AMTEC and supported by EREMA's practical technical expertise. Upon completion, graduates will have in-depth knowledge of the operation and maintenance of modern recycling systems and will be well-prepared for employment in the plastics recycling industry – particularly with regard to working on EREMA systems – or ideally placed to progress in their current role. AMTEC acts as a link to the industry and assists in finding employment opportunities within its member companies as well as recyclers.