The topic of the circular economy will be addressed at the IKK's own stand. Here, injection moulded parts are made from recycled textiles.
In 2022, 113.8 million tonnes of textile fibres, including 87.6 million tonnes of chemical fibres, were produced worldwide according to the Federal Statistical Office. These quantities pose major challenges for the fashion industry in particular, as textiles have so far been difficult to recycle. In view of the increasing production of clothing, particularly through fast fashion, and the associated resource consumption and waste volumes in recent years, it is therefore crucial to find sustainable solutions to meet the growing environmental requirements and stricter legal regulations in various industries. One promising sustainable solution is mechanical recycling, as it enables large quantities of input materials to be processed with minimal logistical effort. Existing challenges here are in particular the limited technological possibilities and the often inadequate quality of the resulting recyclates.
In order to innovate this recycling process, the IKK is working together with the leading companies from various sectors such as VAUDE, Gerry Weber, Barlog, EREMA, Gross+Froelich, forbo, TecPart and Allianz Faserbasierte Werkstoff on the topic of mechanical recycling of textile waste as part of the "TexKreis" project funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). In particular, the preparation and extrusion processes are being investigated so that high-quality and ecologically sustainable plastic recyclates for fibre-to-fibre recycling and fibre-to-injection-moulded components can be produced from textile and textile composites, which have application-specific optimised properties.
In the course of this, thermoplastic textile waste from polyurethane/polyester (TPU/PES) mixed fabrics and unmixed polyamide (PA) and PES fabrics will be considered in particular, for which a suitable, economically viable extrusion technology is to be developed. Further objectives are the development of an effective recycling approach that can be transferred to other input streams for textile material composites and the standard-compliant characterisation of the developed plastic recyclates for a subsequent rapid market launch. The project also aims to achieve further goals, such as the establishment of cross-company and cross-industry collaborations and the development of a business model for high-quality cross-industry textile recycling.
The drying and injection moulding of the recycled material will be demonstrated at the IKK stand. The material is obtained from post-industrial textile waste from Gerry Weber. This has already been processed in the "Process 16" twin-screw extruder from Thermo Fisher Scientific, then preconditioned at the trade fair with the dryer from plasma Kunststofftechnik and then further processed into plastic moulded parts on a "BOY XS" injection moulding machine from Dr. BOY Spritzgießautomaten.
These laboratory versions offer all the functions of large plastics processing systems and enable the production of plastic granulates and injection moulded parts from various thermoplastics on a laboratory scale.
The topic of the circular economy will be addressed in Hall 4. This is also where the IKK stand is located, stand number: D2
Visitor registration for a free ticket is possible under this link.
Together with the exhibitors, we aim to shape the development of the plastics market in a forward-looking and sustainable way. The employees of the IKK look forward to a lively exchange with the trade fair visitors.
