Finland has opened a textile recycling center with a capacity of processing about 12 million kg of textile annually, or roughly 10 per cent of the country’s cloth material waste. The facility, set up jointly by textile recycling company Rester and waste firm LSJH, is the first in Nordics that will turn waste textile materials into recycled fibres on a large scale. A commercially-viable solution of recycling and processing industrial and household textile waste into raw materials has been developed. The recycled and processed textile fiber can be used to make new cloth products.

Finland throws out about 100 million kgs of textile waste every year, and the material has remained a poorly-recycled resource. There are plans to build similar plants across Finland. It will become mandatory to sort textile waste in Finland in 2023, and a similar change is planned across the EU in 2025. Manufacturers are increasingly interested in using recycled fibers, due to growing concern for the environment and tightening regulations in the EU.

Finland has created significant expertise in textile recycling as well as a wide network of cooperation. They will help in finding sustainable textile solutions in line with the recycling and circular economy goals of Finland and the EU. However, sorting technologies must also be developed to ensure sufficient volume and quality of material for industrial recycling processes.