TextileWaVE - Remodelar a Gestão de Resíduos Têxteis Celulósicos através da Integração Sinérgica da Valorização Orgânica e Princípios do Ecodesign

In a world grappling with mounting post-consumer textile waste and persistent recycling barriers, the need for eco-friendly waste management solutions is paramount. Novel composting approaches, especially for cellulosic materials, are emerging. The objectives of TextileWaVE align with facilitating compliance with EU waste legislation, which mandates separate textile waste collection by 2025. Objective 1: To assess the feasibility of organic valorisation of cellulosic textile waste through the composting process, preserving both the quality and safety of the compost. By embracing composting as a method for organic valorisation, this project aims to transform challenges into opportunities for sustainable and cost-effective resource recovery and circularity. While composting has been extensively utilized for organic waste management, its application to cellulosic textile waste remains largely unexplored. Our objective seeks to bridge this gap by investigating the feasibility of composting cellulosic textile post-consumer waste, a novel and innovative approach that aligns with circular economy principles. Furthermore, our objective underscores the importance of preserving both the quality and safety of the compost produced, to ensure its proper valorisation. Objective 2: To isolate, identify and characterise cellulolytic microorganisms originated from composting conditions as prospective composting accelerators. This objective focuses on the selective isolation, identification and characterization of the potential of cellulolytic microorganisms originating from compost microbiomes to efficiently biodegrade cellulosic textiles. These microorganisms, adapted to thrive in composting conditions, possess unique polysaccharide-degrading capabilities, including carbohydrate-active enzymes with high efficiency to breakdown complex cellulosic fibres into simpler sugar by-products. Through high-throughput in vitro assays, we aim to evaluate the ability of cellulolytic bacteria and fungi to enzymatically degrade cellulosic fibres under controlled conditions. Objective 3: To optimize microbial formulations for textile waste composting acceleration through bioaugmentation. Drawing from the in vitro potential of the recovered cellulolytic microbes, our objective is to use these highly functional microorganisms as templates for the design of axenic or co-culture microbial formulations to accelerate the composting process, in terms of biodegradation efficiency or composting time. These optimized microbial formulations will serve as bioaugmentation agents to improve the robustness and efficiency of the overall textile composting process, looking towards a suite of new sustainable bioprocesses capable of revolutionizing traditional waste management practices. Objective 4: To foster the progress of Ecodesign in the textile clothing industry through the development of a compostability score. This objective aims to inspire the industry to integrate scientifically validated knowledge into ecodesign and manufacturing practices to enhance the sustainability and circularity of textiles. To materialize this ambition, it is planned the development a mathematical algorithm for the determination of a compostability score, incorporating scientific research on the most effective configurations and methods for organically valorizing textile waste. This informative and transparent metric will be suitable to integrate the digital product passport of cellulosic textiles.