16th Application on the Turkey Circular Economy Platform
Turkey Circular Economy Platform continues to support the circular economy projects of its members and helps develop new opportunities through the member-specific technical assistance tools. Recently, the 16th circular economy application has been realized through the platform.
Benefiting from The Circular Vouchers program, Kadifeteks, one of the platform members, developed a roadmap for the recycling of different types of textile waste by conducting a comprehensive study on this field. As a result of the study, led by Prof. Dr. Şule Altun Kurtoğlu, an innovative application regarding textile recycling has been realized. Through the project, important results have been accomplished both for Turkey and the world.
Kadifeteks, with its high production capacity especially in household textiles, uses different types of natural and synthetic fibers in its manufacturing. As a result of the production activities, wastes are generated in the form of polyester (PES), polypropylene (PP) and acrylic-containing fiber, yarn and fabric.
In the context of this project these waste have been categorized and a roadmap has been established for the recycling and reuse of these materials in the company’s production line following a detailed trial phase.
In line with the project outcomes, the company focused primarily on acrylic waste. As a result of ongoing work, the Kadifeteks has successfully started to transform its acrylic waste into fibre and use them to produce fabrics and yarns that meet the company's quality standards.
With the current application, approximately 20 tons/year of the total production waste of the company is recycled and is used to produce yarn with 25% recycled acrylic content. Aiming to be the first company in this field by increasing the current ratio to at least 50%, the company stated that it will continue working on its other types of ways with a similar vision.
Although recycling of acrylic products is not a common practice in the sector, with its relatively higher carbon footprint in comparison to other synthetic fibers, it proves to be more beneficial for the environment.
The mechanical recycling utilized in this project is considered to be the first in Turkey. This method/process provides a significant decrease in the amount of carbon footprint. The company is expecting a reduction of around 200 tons CO2/year solely for pure acrylic waste recycling.
Kadifeteks provides significant environmental and economic benefits with this study and aims to increase the rate of acrylic recycling by collaborating with other companies for the application, which has been carried by the company commercially.
About Kadifeteks
Kadifeteks Mensucat Sanayi A.Ş. is a company that manufactures mainly home textiles with its fully integrated manufacturing plant of 65.000 square meters in İstanbul and the secondary manufacturing plant of 100.000 square meters in Sakarya.
The company is the third biggest furnishing fabric manufacturer of the world and the leader exporter in its sector in Turkey.
