TOMRA Horizon

KCRW Features

Clothing brands must recycle or reuse: New CA law

By Caleigh Wells Oct. 03, 2024

Most recycling systems can handle cardboard, glass, and aluminum. But cotton or nylon? When it’s already been crafted into a dress, swimsuit, or pair of jeans? That’s currently beyond what many recycling systems are set up to handle.

But recycled fabrics are coming. California just passed a law that requires textile companies to repurpose or recycle the products they make so they stay out of the landfill.

Companies that sell more than $1 million worth of products in California will be mandated to help fund the state’s textile recycling efforts, “for those materials to be sorted and then reused, whether that's upcycling, recycling, or sorted and turned into additional feedstock for the next generation of products,” says California Senator Josh Newman, who authored the law.

The Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 also incentivizes manufacturers to make more fabrics that can be recycled once you’re done using them. 

“If you can do that, you're not only addressing the waste stream landfill question, but you're really making a difference in environmentalism,” says Newman.

And it’ll have implications beyond state borders. Because if H&M or another  company makes more recyclable clothes, they’re not just going to make them for Californians, they’ll likely sell those garments elsewhere. 

The state has until July 2028 to implement the law, and the companies have until 2030 to comply. 

Now the pressure is on to figure out how. 

That’s a tall order in the U.S., where about 85% of old clothes don’t get recycled. Americans throw away 92 million tons of textiles every year.

https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-features/textile-recycling-law


TOMRA Recycling

Features

Sustainability Awards 2024 Finalist Interview: the EnEWA project for board and paper recycling

8 October 2024

As part of our Finalist Interview series ahead of the Sustainability Awards, RWTH Aachen University spoke to us about the EnEWA research project - a joint entry with Universität Siegen, LEIPA, PROPAKMA, STADLER and TOMRA Recycling - which developed and evaluated a recycling process for paper, board and paper composites, nominated in the Commercialized Driving the Circular Economy category.

https://packagingeurope.com/features/sustainability-awards-2024-finalist-interview-the-enewa-project-for-board-and-paper-recycling/11985.article


TOMRA Mining

Sasquatch Resources Reports Results from 528 kg Sorting Test of Waste-Rock at Mount Sicker

Sasquatch Resources Corp.
Wed, October 9, 2024 at 1:30 PM GMT+2 4 min read

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 9, 2024 / SASQUATCH RESOURCES CORP. (CSE:SASQ)

("Sasquatch" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from a 528kg sorting test-run of waste rock from Sasquatch's Mount Sicker Property performed by Tomra Systems ASA in Germany ("Tomra"), and further analyzed by ALS Laboratories in North Vancouver, Canada ("ALS").

Sasquatch released the results of a systematic sampling program covering the majority of its waste-rock area at Mount Sicker on March 27, 2024. The results from 97 samples taken averaged 1.86 g/t gold, 48.6 g/t silver, 1.22% copper and 3.05% zinc. From these results, Sasquatch and Sulphide Remediation Inc. ("SRI") have begun to explore the possibility of utilizing a mobile, closed-loop crushing and sorting system to extract and separate high-sulphide material in the waste rock, which could then be shipped off-site for further processing. In furtherance of this, the Company took a further 528 kg sample from four separate locations within the waste-rock area and shipped it to the Tomra test-lab in Germany. The sample was run through the same sorting apparatus expected to be used if the project proceeds on a larger scale, the Tomra COM Tertiary XRT unit.
...
Sasquatch's CEO Pete Smith commented, "We are very excited about these results, which further demonstrate substantial economic potential in the waste-rock at Mount Sicker. Historically high cut-offs for mining activity and resulting high grades left behind in the waste-rock, normal for mines that were active so long ago, combined with new sorting technologies that can further separate remaining high-sulphide material from low-grade waste, may provide us an opportunity to generate substantial value from the waste-rock that has been left behind, as well as dramatically improve environmental and safety conditions at Mount Sicker. Further work is ongoing, including detailed metallurgy of the sorted material which will help inform us of potential future processing partners and terms. We have thus far been receiving overwhelmingly positive local support, and our permitting process is underway, and we expect to be providing further updates on all fronts throughout the fall."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sasquatch-resources-reports-results-528-113000306.html


TOMRA Horizon

‘More Than a Store': Why Goodwill Wants to be a Force for Textile Circularity

Story by Jasmin Malik Chua
• 2d • 5 min read

Goodwill wants to be known for more than selling people's castoffs.

For more than 120 years, the charitable retailer has been a vital but frequently overlooked player in municipal waste management, creating job opportunities for the marginalized and in need by finding new outlets for old housewares, books, toys and clothing.

Now, Goodwill wants to play a more active role in textile circularity-and not just spinning one person's fashion regret into another's sartorial score. It and fellow nonprofit Accelerating Circularity recently concluded a two-year million pilot, which was funded with a $1.28 million grant from the Walmart Foundation, to develop the skills and infrastructure to aggregate, sort and process textiles for reuse and recycling.

Up next is a $2 million traceability study, also funded by Walmart, that will support what it describes as a "multi-stakeholder initiative to follow the global journey of secondhand textiles" so it can understand where its goods are going, even if they're being sold by third parties.

The idea behind both schemes is to figure out how Goodwill can better keep textiles out of landfills, both in North America, where the organization is based, and in the marketplaces of countries such as Chile and Ghana, which have become the "final sink" for the dregs of Western overconsumption.

As textile-to-textile recycling ladders up in scale in the United States and Europe to meet mounting consumer and regulatory appetite for lower-impact materials that clean up rather than add to fashion's ballooning waste problem
...
"The stigma of buying from Goodwill just isn't there anymore," she said. "[But] I think a lot of people still don't realize how much more than a store Goodwill really is."

Preston agreed. Getting things right will be a multi-year journey, but there's slow and steady and then there's slow but stuck. For now, Goodwill is actively engaging with the likes of the Rochester Institute of Technology and sortation systems Tomra and Sortile.

"It takes time to do it, but we need to be on that pathway today if we're going to be successful tomorrow," he said. "We need to grab the mantle and realize that we have an opportunity for leadership in the area."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/more-than-a-store-why-goodwill-wants-to-be-a-force-for-textile-circularity/ar-AA1rTX0h?ocid=BingNewsVerp


Interessant prosjekt i Gambia.

The Gambia launches landmark plan to reduce plastic pollution by 86 per cent

9 October 2024 - 3 minutes

National Action Plan hopes to tackle rising plastic pollution in the country including phased ban on single-use plastic bottles
The government of The Gambia – along with Common Seas – has today announced a plan to tackle plastic pollution in the country, ahead of the final round of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations later this year.

An estimated 95,000 tonnes of plastics will escape from The Gambia into rivers and the sea between now and 2033, but the new National Action Plan to End Plastic Pollution covers a roadmap on how the country – one of the most biodiverse per square mile on the planet – will aim to reduce such plastic pollution by 86 per cent in the next ten years, contributing to the improvement of human health, the tourism industry and The Gambia’s environment.
...
Policies outlined in the plan including enhanced bans on single-use plastic carrier bags, a phased ban of single-use plastic bottles and a introduction of a deposit return scheme for other bottles, as well as improving solid waste management through improved collections, storage and recycling. The Gambia also plan to reduce the country’s reliance on plastic bags such as water bags, by installing public water foundations and improving the quality of the water supply. Bans and charges may also be implemented for ‘on-the-go’ food and drink packaging.

https://geographical.co.uk/news/the-gambia-launches-landmark-plan-to-reduce-plastic-pollution-by-86-per-cent