Les Tissages de Charlieu and Synergies TLC have joined forces to create Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, an innovative R&D centre that is unique in France, to automatically unravel and sort clothing at the end of its first life by colour and composition.
First line operational from autumn 2023
Work has officially begun at Amplepuis, in the Rhône region (69), where 2,500 m² are currently being fitted out to house the first automated sorting line. It will be operational from autumn 2023.
A unique technology developed in partnership with Andritz-Laroche and Pellenc ST.
Nouvelles Fibres Textiles is the first industrial infrastructure to combine Pellenc ST's automated sorting technologies with Andritz-Laroche's defibration technologies. It will be able to sort garments automatically by composition and colour, and will also be able to remove hard spots and pre-fibrilise garments. At the end of the line, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles will produce a secondary raw material designed for the fraying/filting, nonwovens and composite materials industries.
Opening of a second automated sorting centre by 2025
This industrial pilot will enable us to demonstrate the technological, economic and environmental viability of automated sorting and delamination. Together with our partners, Andritz and Pellenc ST, manufacturers of industrial devices/machines, and with all our customers, we will carry out applied industrial research to meet the challenges of recycling and supplying our industries. The results of this work will enable us to lay the foundations for a second material preparation plant by 2025, with an annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes of post-consumer textiles and the creation of around thirty direct jobs.
A major step towards reducing the carbon footprint of the French textile industry through the circular economy
The creation of Nouvelles Fibres Textiles marks another major step forward in reducing the carbon footprint of the textile industry, 6 months after the inauguration of Renaissance Textile (the first French centre for the industrial fraying of post-consumer clothing, based in Laval). This stage of material preparation with a view to closed-loop recycling has enabled us to become a textile fibre-producing country: in France, cotton is not in our fields but in our cupboards!
Nouvelles Fibres Textiles: Starter of a recycling eco-system in France
Automated sorting was the last missing link in France's circular economy loop. This opens the way to a complete ecosystem bringing together brands, SSE players, collectors/sorters and manufacturers from different sectors, all working together to serve consumers who want more traceability and meaning in their donations and purchases.
About Synergies TLC:
An expert in textile sorting, Synergies TLC supports players in the sector in their projects to recover TLC (textiles, household linen and footwear). Working alongside manufacturers, clothing brands and institutional bodies, Synergies TLC is also involved in a number of research and innovation projects aimed at optimising the sorting of used textiles or textiles unsuitable for reuse and supplying industries with secondary raw materials.
About Tissage de Charlieu:
Historically weavers of jacquard fabrics for 120 years and committed to a sustainable development approach since 2006, the company is now positioned as a textile circular economy accelerator by combining 3 trades: weaving, automated manufacturing and recycling.
