Project number:

LIFE22-ENV-IT-LIFE-RE-TIGHTS/101113954

 

Duration of the project:

1. 12. 2023. – 30. 11. 2026.

 

Total value:

3,764,765 €

 

EU co-financing:

2,258,859 €

 

Coordinating beneficiary:

Golden Lady Company SpA (Italy)

 

Partners:

Ytres d.o.o. (Croatia), Union SpA (Italy), Calzedonia SpA (Italy), Asendia Italy S.r.l. (Italy)

 

Project description:

Textile is the world second largest industrial sector in terms of negative impacts linked to pollution as well as emissions and the reasons are quite simple to understand. Garments are probably the most common commodity that people buy in the world and, according to forecasts, their consumption is set to rise from 62 million tonnes in 2015 to 102 million tonnes in 2030 with a consequent increase of pollution and environmental risks. European citizens consume almost 26 kg of textiles each year and dispose of about 11 kg of textiles, mostly through incineration or landfill (87%), with only less than 1% of garments which are recycled again as clothing. These statistics are mainly due to two factors: (i) linear consumption patterns and (ii) lack of technologies to recycle garments which are by nature very difficult to manage because of their multi-material composition. In this scenario, the most critical product category is represented by those garments characterised by high production volumes and very short useful life which are made of impactful and non-renewable raw materials and subject to uncontrolled linear disposal practices. A key example of garments that encapsulates all these negative characteristics are tights. LIFE RE-TIGHTS wants to provide an innovative circular and sustainable solution for worn-out tights management. The project aims to implement a new business model based on the collection and recycling of end-of-life tights to obtain secondary raw materials to be used in manufacture a new generation of high-quality recycled tights. Solutions presented in the project aims to bring virtuous practices beyond the state of the art within the sector, as they aim at developing an end-of-life management of tights that allows to maintain the value within the supply chain. In this scenario, worn-out tights will be used as resources from which to derive again new materials, instead of being disposal through landfills or incinerators.