Why H&M, other big brands are investing in garment recycling

The fashion industry has a pollution problem. If the industry continues on its current pathway, it could use more than a quarter of the carbon budget associated with a 2 degrees Celsius pathway by 2050, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

These skyrocketing emissions are compounded by the fact that the fashion industry has dramatically low rates of recycling, which creates a dependence on virgin materials. Worldwide, 87 percent of material used for clothing production is landfilled or incinerated after its final use, and less than 1 percent of material used to produce clothing is recycled to produce new clothing.

Enter a new technology: chemical garment-to-garment recycling. This process, which has seen a flurry of research efforts in the past five years, uses chemical solvents to break down old garments into virgin-quality fibers. Chemical recycling processes can separate blends of types of fabric while retaining fiber integrity, a feat which mechanical recycling processes are incapable of. In addition, solvents used in the process often can be collected after usage and re-used continuously.

This type of technology can be a boon for the environment as well as the economy, said Tasha Lewis, an associate professor in the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design at Cornell University.

But some investors are already forging ahead. According to Re:newcell, Swedish brands H&M and KappAhl have invested significantly in the company. Cavalli-Björkman said these companies have opened doors for Re:newcell in the industry and helped accelerate its scaling process.

In addition to H&M’s venture arm, officially known as H&M CO:LAB, the nonprofit H&M Foundation also has played a significant role in accelerating garment recycling technologies. To date, the H&M Foundation has invested 6 million euros in the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA), a research facility developing separation and recycling solutions that target textile blends.

Since collaborating with the H&M Foundation in 2016, HKRITA has succeeded in developing a novel method for recycling textiles that uses water, heat and a small amount of chemical solvents. In September 2018, HKRITA opened a pre-industrial scale facility in Hong Kong that makes use of the technology.