“The monomer doesn't remember if it used to be a shirt, a carpet, packaging or filter cloth." (Leonard Both, Head of Textile Recycling)

Polyester (PET), whether used in textiles or packaging, is built from the same chemical building blocks. However, discussions about recycling systems are still largely defined by product categories, notably textile-to-textile and packaging-to-packaging.  

This rigid product-based logic can create limitations in practice.  

Material flows are driven by demand and market value, while the quality of available source material varies. At the same time, recyclers depend on large volumes to operate efficiently and achieve economic viability.

As a result, mismatches can occur. While there may be demand for recycled PET, it might not necessarily be enough demand for recycled textile fibres at a given time, price, or specification.

Therefore, restricting recycled polyester from textiles to textile-only applications can create bottlenecks. Once materials have been prepared and qualified for recycling, further segmentation by application introduces inefficiencies and limits scalability.

By breaking polyester down into its molecular building blocks, chemical recycling enables the reintroduction of materials into new production cycles, independent of their original use. This enables polyester derived from textiles to be used across a range of applications, from fibres to packaging, depending on where demand and value are highest.

A material-based approach supports a more flexible and scalable system, helping to build the foundation for efficient and sustainable recycling infrastructure for PET textiles and other materials.