Textile waste fiber regeneration via a green chemistry approach: a molecular strategy for sustainable fashion

Sun, X, Wang, X, Sun, F, Tian, M, Qu, L, Perry, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8427-9912, Owens, H and Liu, X (2021) Textile waste fiber regeneration via a green chemistry approach: a molecular strategy for sustainable fashion. Advanced Materials, 33 (48). p. 2105174. ISSN 0935-9648

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Abstract

Fast fashion, as a continuously growing part of the textile industry, is widely criticized for its excessive resource use and high generation of textiles. To reduce its environmental impacts, numerous efforts are focused on finding sustainable and eco-friendly approaches to textile recycling. However, waste textiles and fibers are still mainly disposed of in landfills or by incineration after their service life and thereby pollute the natural environment, as there is still no effective strategy to separate natural fibers from chemical fibers. Herein, a green chemistry strategy is developed for the separation and regeneration of waste textiles at the molecular level. Cellulose/wool keratin composite fibers and multicomponent fibers are regenerated from waste textiles via a green chemical process. The strategy attempts to reduce the large amount of waste textiles generated by the fast-developing fashion industry and provide a new source of fibers, which can also address the fossil fuel reserve shortages caused by chemical fiber industries and global food shortages caused by natural fiber production.