Page 59 from: September 2015

Paper

Textiles

Contributing to the
Recovered Paper Market
Analysis:
• Melvin de Groot (Van Gelder

Recycling, the Netherlands)
• Mariëlle Gommans (Bel Fibres,

Belgium)
• Joel Litman (Texas Recycling/

Surplus Inc, USA)

59September 2015

Tissue mill business in Mexico is report-
edly slowing, trimming demand from
mills already loaded with full invento-
ries. Domestic tissue mills are noting
this too. ‘I’m hearing from people that
I have not heard from in years, looking
for orders, and price not being an
issue,’ notes one mill buyer.
A few corrugated mills in the southern
regions of the USA are scheduled to
take downtime in September for
machine maintenance, which will put
more tonnage into the supply pipeline.
Pulp subs remain stable, thus continu-
ing the trend of the past few months.
Comparing the fi rst half of this year
with the same period in 2014, US
recovered paper shipments to China
jumped 5% – or by approaching
355 000 tonnes – to nearly 7 million
tonnes, according to Census Bureau
fi gures.

Asia
Importing too expensive
August proved to be one of the slowest
months in years for recovered fibre
exporters to Asia, with a drop-off in
demand for almost all qualities. Most
notably, India and Indonesia stepped
out of the lower grades market com-

Australian ‘breakthrough’ in recycling
textile and other waste
Researchers at Deakin University in the Australian state of Victoria have
found a way to separate blends of cotton-polyester material, hailing this as
‘a major breakthrough’ for recycling textile and other waste.
A signifi cant hurdle to recycling waste clothing and other textiles into their
original fi bres is that most of this material is composed of blended fi bres – the
most common being polyester/cotton blends. While it is easy to recycle
cotton and polyester individually, it is not possible to mechanically separate
the blends where the fi bres are closely bonded together. Chemical solutions
attempted to date have not been viable either economically or environmen-
tally, it is explained.
However, researchers at Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials – namely
Dr Nolene Byrne and PhD student Rasike De Silva – have developed a simple
process to separate polyester/cotton blends into their individual components
using an ionic liquid, or a salt in a liquid state. Unlike harsh solvents which
have previously been used to dissolve polyester, ionic liquids ‘provide an
environmentally friendly solvent’ to chemically separate polyester/cotton
blends. Another benefi t of using ionic liquids, says De Silva, is the ease with
which the polyester and cotton can be separated.
‘The ionic liquid selectively dissolves the cotton component, with the added
advantage that the liquid can then be recycled and reused,’ he explains.
‘This cotton can then be regenerated into various forms, such as spun into
fi bres or cast as cellulose fi lms, like cellophane.’
The recovered polyester can also be recycled by melting and reshaping it
into other forms, such as plastic bottles or fi bres. Regenerated cellulose
fi bres such as viscose, rayon and lyocell have a considerable market share
and are growing in popularity, it is noted. Regenerated cotton is also being
used increasingly as a low-cost precursor in the carbon fi bre industry and
as the starting material for bioethanol production.
The new process is not limited to textile recycling but can also be applied
to the recycling of any type of biocomposite material – including those used
in the automotive industry, according to the researchers.
A textile engineer from Sri Lanka, De Silva has carried out the project as part
of his PhD research into separation and utilisation of polymer fi bre blends
using environmentally-friendly approaches. www.deakin.edu.au

pletely. Mills are holding sufficient
fi nished product and, with currencies
devaluing, importing has become too
expensive such that most consumers
are trying to buy on the local market
while simultaneously slowing their
machines.
China has dropped its prices and is
buying relatively low volumes while
South Korea has been buying healthy
tonnages of news & pams and mixed
paper at relatively stable price levels.
Owing to low collection levels as well
as strong demand in Europe and else-
where, mills’ prices have been holding
up quite well but a resumption of full
collection activity in September should
result in signifi cantly higher volumes
and therefore the possibility of price
falls.

RI-7 p00_Analysis Paper&Textiles.indd 59 07-09-15 10:44