1 year since the inauguration of the CASTTOR demonstrator
CASTTOR: from complex textile waste to recycled garments
A year ago, Recyc'Elit officially inaugurated CASTTOR, its pre-industrial demonstrator for the chemical recycling of complex textiles. Over a little more than twelve months (the first trials started a few months before the inauguration), it has shown that textile-to-textile recycling works at a significant scale.
A year of continuous production
Since it was commissioned, the demonstrator has been running batch after batch:
- nearly 90 batches completed;
- more than 3.4 tonnes of textiles recycled;
- nearly 2.5 tonnes of DMT produced.
DMT (DiMethyl Terephthalate) is one of the monomers of polyester. Our selective depolymerization process regenerates it from the polyester contained in recycled textile waste. It can then be repolymerized to produce T2T recycled polyester (rPET) with properties equivalent to those of virgin polyester.
A wide range of feedstocks tested
Chemical recycling can process real-world waste, not just ideal streams. CASTTOR has therefore been fed with post-industrial and post-consumer feedstocks of varied compositions:
- 100% polyester;
- polyester / elastane;
- polyester / wool;
- 90% polyester / 10% "other", meaning undefined co-materials.
These blends are currently difficult, if not impossible, to recover through mechanical recycling. Our process handles them, opening new outlets for volumes that are currently landfilled or incinerated.
The first finished products from CASTTOR
This first year also saw the first finished rPET products made from CASTTOR output, including the jersey produced with NOLT as part of Refashion's AMI IMR call for projects. It is tangible proof that textile waste, even complex waste, can become a garment again.
What's next?
With CASTTOR, textile-to-textile recycling is no longer a concept: it works and it produces. The next step is to scale up towards industrial capacity, to meet the needs of brands and the wider sector.
We would like to thank the entire Recyc'Elit team, who keep CASTTOR running day after day, as well as our partners for their trust.
This project was funded by the French State as part of France 2030, operated by ADEME, and funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.
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