idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Konradsreuth/Hof, Germany – After two and a half years of intensive research and development, the project partners of the RecyTube research project drew a positive conclusion at the end of June during a final meeting at Rohleder in Konradsreuth. Funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, the project aimed to transform textile production waste into high-quality new materials and applications, thereby opening up new pathways for a sustainable circular economy in the textile industry. Although the project has now officially concluded, many of its developments and ideas will continue to be pursued in the coming months.
At the heart of RecyTube was the question of how textile waste generated during the production of high-quality upholstery fabrics can be put to meaningful use. Selvedges, yarn remnants, and other production waste—typically consisting of mixed materials—have often been disposed of or used solely for energy recovery. RecyTube instead viewed these materials as valuable resources.
"It makes perfect sense to reduce the use of virgin fibres and increase the proportion of recycled fibres," explained project manager Melanie Peter. "This approach has now become a fundamental part of Rohleder's sustainability strategy."
The first step of the project therefore involved the systematic collection and analysis of the yarn waste generated during production. The team focused particularly on longer fibres that are suitable for high-quality recycling. The results were impressive: within the framework of RecyTube, the partners succeeded in producing materials with approximately two-thirds recycled content, while the proportion of virgin material was reduced to only around 33 percent.
At the same time, the project partners pursued another important objective.
"Our goal is to avoid adding any additives or other substances to the material mixtures," said Leni Rohleder, Sustainability Manager at Rohleder.
This approach is intended to establish a clean, transparent, and fully traceable material cycle over the long term.
Research Bridging Laboratory and Industrial Application
The scientific work was led by Hof University of Applied Sciences, whose researchers developed processes for mechanically recycling textile waste and making it suitable for reuse. While chemical recycling methods are generally considered promising, they are often costly and unsuitable for the specific mixed-material waste streams addressed in this project.
Felix Hacker, research associate at the Institute for Materials Science (ifm), reported highly encouraging results during material development.
"The material looked remarkably uniform during the first sampling tests. We processed it through the carding machine twice."
The results proved so convincing that the selected process parameters required little further adjustment.
At the same time, the project highlighted one of the major challenges facing many innovation projects.
"Scalability is a fundamental issue. Projects are often either very small or very large, while opportunities for intermediate-scale testing are frequently lacking," explained Melanie Peter.
Bringing Design and Function Together
Alongside the technical challenges, design played a central role in the project. For this reason, Paula Holzhauser, a young designer and graduate of the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, joined the interdisciplinary team. Together with the project partners, she developed seating concepts based on the newly created materials.
The development of a stool proved particularly demanding. The furniture needed to be structurally stable, economically manufacturable, and visually appealing at the same time. Another key challenge was ensuring that the products could eventually be manufactured on an industrial scale.
Overcoming Challenges
The project partners also had to overcome unexpected obstacles during the project period. At one point, an important local subcontractor became unavailable and had to be replaced.
For Katja Rödel of BWF Protec, RecyTube ranks among the most remarkable projects of recent years.
"This project has been thoroughly well-conceived from beginning to end. We are operating almost at the limits of what is technically feasible."
She also emphasized the remarkable transformation within the company itself. While there had initially been some reservations about the project, acceptance steadily increased as tangible results became visible. Today, employees actively support the initiative.
Development Continues
Although the project has officially ended, the partners see considerable potential for further development. The prototype stool is currently undergoing additional optimization.
"At present, the production costs of the stool still need to be reduced," admitted Alexandra Luft, Scientific Coordinator at the Institute for Materials Science. "Nevertheless, during the final phase of the project we established the technical foundations needed to industrialize the product competitively over the coming months."
The stool has already been presented at the Coburg Design Days, and further exhibitions—including the international office furniture trade fair Orgatec in Cologne—are planned.
For the project partners, RecyTube has become much more than a single research project.
"We truly enjoyed working on this project. We'd be delighted to do it again," said Melanie Peter.
Alexandra Luft also sees further opportunities for collaboration.
"Our cooperation was highly successful. That's why we'd like to discuss new project ideas with Rohleder right away."
A Successful Contribution to the Circular Economy
The project partners therefore draw an overwhelmingly positive conclusion: RecyTube has demonstrated that textile production waste is not only recyclable but also has the potential to become an important building block of future material cycles in the textile industry. Through close collaboration between industry, science, and design, the project has shown how innovative recycling concepts can contribute to a more sustainable and resource-efficient textile sector.
Alexandra Luft, Hof University of Applied Sciences
Criteria of this press release:
Business and commerce, Journalists, Scientists and scholars, Students, Teachers and pupils, all interested persons
Economics / business administration, Environment / ecology, Materials sciences
transregional, national
Research projects, Research results
English
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
