Upcycling Mixed Textile Waste into Clean Materials for the Next Use Cycle

PESCO-UP's Sustainable Solution

PESCO-UP develops sustainable, economically viable processes for upcycling mixed polyester/cotton (PES/CO) textile waste into high-quality cotton and polyester products.

By 2025, textile waste collection will be mandatory in EU member states, and PESCO-UP aims to lead the charge in transforming this societal challenge into a business opportunity.

Addressing Key Challenges in Textile Recycling

Bridging Information Gaps

PESCO-UP tackles the industry's information exchange deficit by developing a marketplace based on the Digital Product Passport, facilitating communication among stakeholders to share technological advancements and promote the benefits of textile recycling.

Establishing Systematic Approaches

Focusing on classification and systemisation, PESCO-UP aims to create industry-wide standards for recycling technologies and logical routes for cotton and polyester textile fibres, advancing beyond current origin-based classifications to incorporate chemical structures, physical properties, and textile finishing attributes.

Ensuring Social and Technological Harmony

Recognising the importance of balancing technological innovation with social well-being, PESCO-UP endeavours to prevent negative social impacts, ensuring that new technologies enhance manufacturing job appeal and contribute to a skilled and sustainable workforce.

Discover what PESCO-UP is up to

Interested in learning more about CISUTAC’s latest developments and innovations? Read our blogposts!

If you want to be kept up to date on our latest news, subscribe to our newsletter!

Blogs
Towards a more data and image-driven recycling future 
Towards a more data and image-driven recycling future 

PESCO-UP aims to reshape the way we recycle these fibres. One first step was to propose minimum data requirements for the recycling value chain. TEXroad, VTT, Reverse Resources and other project partners worked on these requirements for imaging and data technologies to help enable a more efficient and transparent circular value chain

Innovative Recycling of Polycotton Blended Textiles
Innovative Recycling of Polycotton Blended Textiles

Polycotton, a mix of polyester and cotton, poses a significant recycling challenge due to the difficulty in separating the fibres for reuse, especially back into textile fibres. The PESCO-UP project wanted to tackle this issue. PESCO-UP partner Nordic Bioproducts Group’s technology facilitates the separation of cellulose and synthetic materials from mixed polycotton textile waste and modifies the cellulose for use as a valuable raw material in the production of new textiles.

PESCO-UP’s Latest News

Recently, Anneli Auranen from Nordic Bioproducts Group and Määttänen Marjo from @vttfinland , partners in the PESCO-UP project, had the opportunity to visit @centexbelvkc's facilities in Kortrijk. During their time at Centexbel, the p
Last week, the PESCO-UP project was showcased at the Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Representing the project, Lutz Walter and Tilla Kross from Textile ETP engaged with participants at the conference,
This week, PESCO-UP project partners Lutz Walter from Textile ETP, Marjo Määttänen from @vttfinland , Anneli Auranen from Nord Bioproducts Group, and Isabel De Schrijver from @centexbelvkc attended the 4th International Conference on C
The PESCO-UP project coordinator, @vttfinland (Technical Research Centre of Finland), is making significant strides in sustainability by expanding its product portfolio to include laboratory scale regenerated cellulose films. These innovative films a
Last week, at the #ECOSYSTEXConference in Milan, our project partner Traci Kinden from Texroad presented the latest developments from PESCO-UP. Traci updated the participants on the latest proposed minimum data requirements for recycling, focusing o
This week in Dornbirn-GFC 2024, Heli Kangas from @valmetglobal delivered an interesting presentation on the challenges, solutions and opportunities linked with piloting and scaling up of sustainable and circular textile fibre processing 🧵 We were e