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Siptex | Sysav - The world's first fully automated facility in industrial scale for sorting textiles

Last updated: Apr 7, 2023

Summary

The Siptex sorting plant is the world's first fully automated sorting facility that allows the processing of large amounts of textile waste with high precision, functioning as the link between textile collection and high-quality textile recycling. The facility is capable of sorting up to 24.000 tonnes of textiles per year and has operated in Southern Sweden since 2021.

Problem

Collection and sorting of textile waste is essential for valorizing and recovering it as a valuable resource. So far, the sorting process is mostly done manually, which poses an efficiency problem as manual sorting cannot cope with the increasing volumes of textile waste.

Solution

Siptex stands for Swedish Innovation Platform for TEXtile sorting and is a project funded by Vinnova, led by the IVL Swedish Environmental Institute and supported by a broad consortium of Swedish fashion and furniture brands. The sorting plant in Malmö is owned and operated by Sysav, Sydskåne's waste company.

The facility functions as follows:

Textiles get collected in three different categories of textile material:

- Pre-consumer material, meaning textiles from industry such as production waste.

- Post-consumer material that is pre-sorted and of a specific product type, e.g. clothing, bedding or towels.

- Residual textiles from both consumers and industry, e.g. garments that can't be sold as second-hand goods.

Optical sensors are then used to identify the fabric material and colour and sort it accordingly. Sorted textiles are then packed and sent off to recycling partners for fibre-to-fibre recycling.

Outcome

Large volumes of textile waste are efficiently sorted with high precision through this facility. This enables a better (fibre-to-fibre) recycling of textile waste and reduces the need for using virgin materials in textile production, fully supporting circularity in the textile industry.