Key takeaways

• Capable of handling more complex, contaminated waste than traditional mechanical methods while promoting lower operational intensities than some chemical procedures, enzymatic textile recycling is gaining traction.
• One such innovator is Evoralis – a UK-based spinout from the University of Cambridge. Working at TRL-6, the startup has refined an enzyme capable of depolymerising polyester, as well as making progress towards nylon and elastane recycling.
• Once an enzyme is refined, the business proposition sits with subcontracting the enzyme’s production to established industrial partners. Evoralis is also looking to engage with early-stage supply chain players, including existing recyclers, chemical processors and waste management firms.

Pressures mount against brands, manufacturers and refuse management to address the textile & apparel industry’s colossal waste problem, catalysing recycling innovation. To unlock high-quality outputs viable for returning to the textile value chain – and therefore facilitating more economical and versatile operations – chemical and enzymatic recycling mechanisms are gathering particular momentum.

Unlike traditional mechanical methods, which shred or stress materials to access their fibres, these more novel methods reduce fabrics back into their essential building blocks – monomers. These recovered monomers can then be repolymerised into ingredients key to producing high demand fibres, such as polyester and nylon.

Although nascent,