The textiles industry is a significant sector in the global economy, operating in an almost completely linear way: large amounts of non-renewable resources are extracted to produce or finish materials that are often used for only a short time, after which they mostly sent to landfill or incinerated. Furthermore, this take-make- dispose model has numerous negative environmental and societal impacts.

Hazardous chemicals impact not only the health of textile workers, but also consumers and the wider environment. Approaching natural-source chemicals and material circularity through minimising waste is an essential component of strategies to secure the sustainability of the planetary environment. Elaborations of the 3R waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle), including circular economy, ‘zero waste’ and zero discharge movements, signpost pathways towards overcoming the challenge. Potential technical solutions require significant inputs from the chemical sciences, in strong cooperation with others, to deliver the material basis of sustainability.

The goal of the workshop is to show an evidence-based approach to identifying the priority actions needed to advance sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain. During the workshop, a vision on ongoing efforts to make the textiles system more sustainable by minimising its negative impacts will be done. With a specific emphasis on innovation towards different approaches developed in Eu funded projects, invited speakers will show routes to deliver substantially better economic and environmental outcomes.

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