Khan Mahbuba Imroz, Islam Md Tasbirul, Wang Lijing, Padhye Rajiv
School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Interdisciplinary Research Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (IRC-SES), King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2025 Mar;32(13):8529-8546. doi: 10.1007/s11356-025-36200-1. Epub 2025 Mar 14.
In modern societies, especially in developed countries, textile waste management has become a critical issue due to overconsumption and throw-away culture. This case study aims to develop a comprehensive quantitative energy demand and carbon footprint analysis model using CCalC2 software to identify the most sustainable end-of-life management practices for the textile waste in Australia, the second-largest consumers of textile products. Results of this study showed that chemical recycling is the best option from the standpoint of saving pulp production energy and recycled pulp material, while it is a carbon-intensive process (6401 kg COeq/1000 kg). The mechanical recycling process is estimated to emit around 5368 kg COeq/1000 kg - a low CO emitting process. Surprisingly, CO emissions from incineration (e.g., 5897 kg COeq/1000 kg) showed a similar trend of mechanical recycling, and the option of incineration could only be pursued if (thermal) energy recovery and electricity production were considered. This study highlights the requirement for sustainable textile waste management practices and provides valuable insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders for future policy planning around low carbon-intensive technology selection with improved (secondary) material recovery.
在现代社会，尤其是在发达国家，由于过度消费和一次性文化，纺织品废物管理已成为一个关键问题。本案例研究旨在使用CCalC2软件开发一个全面的定量能源需求和碳足迹分析模型，以确定澳大利亚（第二大纺织品消费国）纺织品废物最可持续的生命周期末端管理实践。这项研究的结果表明，从节省纸浆生产能源和回收纸浆材料的角度来看，化学回收是最佳选择，不过它是一个碳密集型过程（6401千克二氧化碳当量/1000千克）。机械回收过程估计排放约5368千克二氧化碳当量/1000千克——是一个低二氧化碳排放过程。令人惊讶的是，焚烧产生的二氧化碳排放（例如5897千克二氧化碳当量/1000千克）与机械回收呈现出相似的趋势，只有在考虑（热能）能量回收和发电的情况下，才可以选择焚烧。这项研究强调了可持续纺织品废物管理实践的必要性，并为政策制定者和行业利益相关者围绕选择低碳密集型技术并提高（二次）材料回收率进行未来政策规划提供了有价值的见解。
