Green Machine to address textile waste in Cambodia

An ambitious project to address textile waste in Cambodia was recently announced by an international consortium led by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ FABRIC project), the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Limited (HKRITA), Chip Mong Insee, Dakota Industrial, H&M Foundation, and VF Corporation.

According to a press statement from the German embassy in Cambodia, a feasibility study is launched to deploy The Green Machine—the world’s first recycling equipment that can recycle blended textiles at scale—in Cambodia by 2022.

GIZ brought together all important stakeholders throughout the garment supply chain to examine the Green Machine’s industrial-scale development in Cambodia through its FABRIC project, which was executed on behalf of the German minister for economic cooperation and development (BMZ).

The Green Machine, created by HKRITA with funding from the H&M Foundation, is the world’s first technology for separating and recycling polyester/cotton blend textiles on a large scale without sacrificing quality.

Single-material recycling has been viable for a long time, but recycling blends—cotton and polyester blends are the most popular type of textile in the world—have not.

In a closed-loop system, the Green Machine separates cotton and polyester materials using just heat, water, and less than 15% of a biodegradable chemical.

Edwin Keh, chief executive officer of HKRITA, said that their goal is to create technology and solutions that have a beneficial influence on the environment, and the Green Machine is a great example of that. The ever increasing demand for this solution will drive change and generate value for the whole fashion and textile sector.