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Largest textile recycling centre in Nordics opens in Finland
Rester and LSJH on 2 November commemorated the opening of the largest textile waste recycling centre in the Nordics.
ResterOpened in Paimio, Southwest Finland, in November, the centre has an annual recycling capacity of 12 million kilos, making it the largest of its kind in the Nordics.
Operated by Rester and Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto (LSJH), the centre converts household and industrial textile waste into recycled fibres utilising what the partners believe is a commercially feasible solution for tackling the issues linked to the roughly 100 million kilos of textile waste created annually in Finland.
The partners are responsible for processing industrial side streams and household textile waste, respectively.
Rester in November stated that the side streams delivered to the centre are of such high quality that they can be processed into products such as yarn, fibre-based fabrics, insulation materials, acoustic panels and filter fabrics.
The household textile waste, in turn, is refined into recycled fibre.
“We have been collecting and sorting residents’ waste textiles since 2015 and have explored the possibilities of recycling and processing in numerous projects for nearly 10 years,” Jukka Heikkilä, CEO of LSJH, told YLE.
Interest in recycled fibres is rising among manufacturers in the face of mounting environmental concerns and tightening regulation in the EU, noted Outi Luukko, CEO of Rester. Sorting textile waste, for example, is scheduled to become mandatory in 2023 in Finland and in 2025 across the EU.