Europe's textile recycling industry faces critical supply chain gaps
A new study of 20 European recycling firms identifies eleven specific capabilities currently missing from textile-to-textile supply chains—from collection logistics to sorting technology. These bottlenecks are blocking the industry from scaling up recycling operations and meeting growing demand for sustainable fabrics, creating both a business risk and opportunity for operators who can fill the gaps.
Originaltitel: Exploring supply chain capabilities in textile-to-textile recycling – A European interview study
<p>In light of the recent developments in recycling technologies and commercialization, supply chain capabilitiesare decisive for large-scale textile-to-textile recycling practices. Despite this, the current status and landscape ofthese practices is surprisingly little researched from a logistics and supply chain management point of view.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore supply chain capabilities required in the textile-to-textilerecycling supply chain. The paper is based on an interview study with 20 stakeholders along the textile recyclingsupply chain, covering various types of collectors, sorters, and recyclers in Sweden and mainland Europe.The findings present eleven specific supply chain capabilities distributed over the three main supply chainactivities of collection, sorting, and recycling. By doing this, the study seeks to provide a more thorough andcomprehensive understanding of the role of logistics and supply chain management in textile-to-textile recyclingpractices. The findings also provide insights into more general industry-related design issues, including thematching of product supply and demand, the establishment of new supply chains, and balancing global and localinterests.</p>