I can't answer for fabrics but I do know, for plastic mouldings, the ability to reform used plastic - they call it 'regrind' - is extremely limited. The re-forming process must degrade the plastic significantly, and lead to poor quality product. Nature recycles polymers by totally dismantling them and reconstructing from raw amino acids. This doesn't work for plastics!

Tony Maine Mohammed Jaafar Ali Alatabe

Hello Winnie, in Kenya , there is a company that does recycling and I think they can give you more insights.

https://www.petco.co.ke/

Kiprotich Kiptum Thank you for sharing the website. As we discussed, depending on which "cycle" of rPET, virgin plastic has to be mixed in as Mohammed pointed out because plastic degenerates when it is heated and the subsequent polymer is of lower quality. It's also mentioned on the website, "It (rPET) is generally blended in a ratio of virgin to recycled, depending on the application required." So I'd argue that it isn't really a "closed loop" system if you're introducing virgin plastic, and it doesn't follow circular economy principles. Don't get me wrong, it's a step and useful tool to use when dealing with the amount of plastic waste we have accumulated in our landfills and oceans, but the "perpetual plastic" narrative some brands advertise is false.

Dear Winnie May Chan,

At present (February 2021), only a few or a dozen or so percent on a global scale. Plastic waste (depending on the type of polymers and other plastics) is recycled. In addition, most of the processing of recycled plastics and the creation of new granular plastic raw materials used to make certain types of plastic products rely on the ground recycled raw material being mixed with about 10 times the corresponding new raw material of the specified plastic. Then specific dyes are added and in injection molding factories producing various plastic products these products are created. Unfortunately, the structure (microparticle, molecular, etc.) of the recycled material changes. Therefore, plastics are not recycled multiple times. When the amount of recycled raw material in the mixture of granulated raw materials from e.g. from the new production of plastics, then the quality of the raw material mixture changes its characteristics and physical properties. In such a situation, the number of types of products that can be made of a raw material mixture with an increased content of recycled plastics is correspondingly smaller. A certain type of raw material mixture can usually only be made once to produce certain types of products with a certain, high level of quality, such as clothing products, materials used in furniture, floor coverings, etc. Each subsequent recycling of the same plastic material usually reduces the properties of physical raw material and limits the possibility of producing various types of plastic products. Recycling processes reduce the number of types of products that can be made from recycled material. In order for this scope to be wide-ranging or not to use the recycled raw material at all in any manufacturing processes for the production of specific plastic products, the amount of recycled raw material in mixtures of recycled raw materials and new raw materials is relatively small. Therefore, at the moment, in terms of the currently dominant technological processes, the possibilities for the development of recycling are significantly limited. In addition, the level of efficiency in the development of recycling is also determined by the efficiency of waste segregation processes into different fractions. Unfortunately, there is still much room for improvement in this regard as well. In view of the above, the scale of development of waste segregation and recycling techniques has to be significantly improved, because the current state is insufficient to be considered an important factor in building a sustainable, green circular economy.

Best wishes,

Dariusz Prokopowicz

Dariusz Prokopowicz Thank you for providing a detailed answer ! Yes, I concur, there are a plethora of systemic problems with recycling plastics and it needs to be developed further and scaled up in order to truly be considered circular, specifically with the challenges of sorting through blended fibres in the apparel industry. I've come across too many brands in the industry that heavily "green washes" and publish false narratives on the current reality of recycling plastics.

You might be able to improve the situation by making a plastic that comprises a tightly bound group loosely coupled to other tightly bound groups. Heating will break the loose bonds and cause the material - hopefully - to liquefy. On cooling the material will reconstitute. Basically you have to design the plastic at the molecular level to be recyclable. I doubt if any existing plastic has this as a major design goal.