Reverse Resources – using data to revolutionise textile waste management and recycling

Background Information

With the emerging textile recycling sector, the textile industry grapples with a significant challenge: the mismanagement of textile waste. In Bangladesh, the issue is exacerbated by an emerging textile-to-textile (T2T) recycling sector struggling to gain traction amidst the dominance of informal waste management practices. Garment factories face hurdles in waste segregation, further diminishing the value of recyclable materials. While Pakistan has an established textile recycling industry, challenges persist due to opaque textile flows and reliance on imported post-consumer waste. This lack of transparency hampers efficiency in waste utilisation and exacerbates the imbalance between waste supply and demand. Despite nascent recycling markets, the fashion industry’s uptake of recycled materials remains low. Addressing these challenges requires bolstering demand for recycled materials and enhancing waste management practices to mitigate environmental impact and promote sustainable textile recycling.

Reverse Resources has taken a unique data-driven approach to solve this market gap by scaling post-industrial textile-to-textile recycling and efficiently using textile waste within the fashion industry as a strategic resource. They have developed an innovative combination of digital tools (a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform), standardised processes and a win-win business case to align the various textile supply chain stakeholders. The RR team collaborates with large retail brands to create a call-to-action among the brands’ suppliers to start segregating waste by fibre composition i.e. at source. Suppliers often get a better price for the waste while doing so. The RR team then enable recyclers to buy textile waste straight from the source (the original supplier). On the SaaS platform, a transparent supply chain gets set up before the actual movement of the waste, which allows recyclers to verify material background information and quality upfront, and cut out any unnecessary steps from the chain of custody. The SaaS platform supports a standardised data-driven process, aligning goals towards circularity, maximising business benefits and allowing the scaling of the circular business due to cost-efficiency and real-time market insight.

Through such an approach, RR solution plays a role in overcoming the market barriers in three ways:

  1. Mapping waste from source, matchmaking this with best recyclers and profiling the market players for ease of development of efficient supply chains.
  2. Offering real-time data and statistics of waste flows on the platform, which allows planning and balancing the supply and demand so that the growing recycling capacity would meet the volumes and types of textile waste streams available in the market.
  3. Aggregated data and verification of the data accuracy of waste flow allows to set a baseline and drive targets around tracing waste to high-end T2T and build more accurate estimates of total waste sent to landfill or incineration, giving a great tool for public-private partnerships around common goals and shared metrics.

The RR platform is currently active in Bangladesh, and the objective of this SMEP-funded project is to:

  1. scale up their existing reach in Bangladesh to get more partners onboard,
  2. introduce this approach to the market in Pakistan, a leading textile producing country, and
  3. pilot the development of the platform’s functionality and user-friendliness to target post-consumer textile waste in Pakistan.

Overall, the project’s goal is to trace and digitally verify at least 2.5 million tonnes of textile waste to textile-to-textile recycling annually by 2030, globally reducing the fashion industry’s reliance on virgin materials and its environmental impact significantly. The project aims to register 1,200 tonnes of waste in Bangladesh and 200 tonnes in Pakistan on the RR platform, with a minimum of 30% reaching textile-to-textile recycling, equating to a reduction of approximately 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions yearly.

Updates

  • The project was initiated in March 2024, and inception activities have begun in earnest. The official launch of the project took place at a pivotal event, the 3rd International Conference on Knowledge-based Textiles, which the National Textile University in Pakistan hosted on March 5th and 6th. Reverse Resources also participated in the OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Industry and participated in the parallel session In the loop: adapting due diligence to circular processes in the lead up to the project launch.
  • The team continues to scale the Reverse Resources platform in Bangladesh by initiating discussions with new recyclers, continuing working relationships with key brands through the partnership with the Global Fashion Agenda, and onboarding and training new manufacturers in Bangladesh.
  • The team attended key events to amplify their existing work, such as participating in panel discussions at the Bangladesh Circular Economy Summit, exhibiting at the Innovation Expo at at the Global Fashion Summit held in Copenhagen in May 2024, attending the Fashion Tech Week in Dhaka, and the IGATEX Expo in Pakistan.
  • A first prototype of public dashboard displaying data on Bangladesh’ textile waste volumes, recyclers’ capacity and waste collectors’ processing capacity was finalised. This country-level dashboard mockup will be central to upcoming feedback sessions with key stakeholders with the view of obtaining comments from industry players to refine this digital tool. It is aimed to launch this dashboard early in 2025.
  • The establishment of the RR platform in Pakistan has been met by a very positive response from stakeholders and manufacturers.

Connect with Reverse Resources

Websites

Timeframe

March 2024 – March 2026

Status

Active

Countries of Implementation

Consortium Partners

Showcase Resources

Key media links can be accessed here:

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