In Sweden, clothing retailer H&M joined forces with Danone to collect used plastic bottles from their Indonesian drink business Tirta Investama and convert them into textiles used for H&M’s clothing line. The project supports H&M’s “100 percent Circular & Renewable” commitment and helps Danone find a useful path for their bottles which otherwise were considered waste.
H&M is also working with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel as part of a four-year study to use a hydrothermal process to separate cotton and polyester blends to enable the polyester to be re-used with no loss of quality.
Cecilia Strömblad Brännsten, Circular Economy Lead for H&M told GreenBiz. “To achieve this systemic change for the textile industry we need to accelerate circular innovations and we need collaboration within and between industries.”