The Problem:

Australia is facing a textile waste crisis, with 800 million kilos of textiles ending in landfill each year and only 7% of which is recycled. Australians are consuming and discarding textiles at a rapidly increasing rate, eventuating into waste that pollutes our water, damages natural ecosystems and produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions. This issue, exacerbated by the fast fashion industry and poor textile quality, greatly impacts our charity shops who are inundated with unsellable clothes, leading to an expenditure of $18 million to discard of these textiles.

The Solution

Our solution is to fundamentally transform end-of-life textiles into their usable, valuable raw materials. We are currently developing and scaling breakthrough technology that can digest pure cotton and poly-cotton blend textiles in an environmentally friendly, low cost, and efficient manner. We aim to achieve circularity by repurposing these raw materials into useful such as hydrogels and bioplastics. Being formed from a cellulosic input, our products are a sustainable alternative to traditional hydrogels and bioplastics, whilst diverting textiles away from landfill.

Impact

Our solution of recycling and repurposing textiles has a positive environmental impact as we are diverting textiles from landfill. We aim to have an economical impact through the alleviation of end-of-life textiles from business, creation of new jobs and improving health outcomes in communities affected by textile and plastic waste.