India's Birla Cellulose & SaXcell ink MoU for textile recycling

SaXcell’s textile waste pulping technology combined with Birla's advanced wet spinning expertise results in high quality sustainable ‘SaXcell’ recycled fibres serving the circular textile needs of customers at commercial scale, Aditya Birla Group and SaXcell said in a joint press release.

Commenting on the development, Erik van der Weerd, CEO SaXcell, highlighted that this collaboration fits SaXcell’s vision to set up a robust circular textile supply chain based on partnership and mutual commitment. “To address today’s social and environmental challenges of the textile industry, global collaboration is imperative. We need to facilitate a change from a linear to a circular economy and we need to do it now. SaXcell’s and Birla’s combined innovation force and production power offer a great opportunity to create real impact,” he explained.

“Birla Cellulose is strongly committed to support innovators for expanding circular fibre offerings in the textile and non-woven value chain. We have been exploring innovative business models and partnerships. This collaboration is one such initiative, where we aim to help SaXcell leapfrog from pilot to commercial demonstration scale. Such partnerships will play an increasingly important role in accelerating circularity in the global textile value chain,” said Dr Aspi Patel, chief technology officer, Aditya Birla Group and Birla Cellulose.

SaXcell B.V. is an innovative technology development company that recycles used textiles into feedstock for making new and sustainable man-made cellulosic fibres. Creating the new fibres requires less water, land, and chemicals. A team of researchers from Saxion University of Applied Science in Enschede started with SaXcell B.V. in 2015. After extensively testing and improving the technology, a pilot factory was successfully built in 2020. By 2024, SaXcell will further expand by building a Small Scale Production plant in Enschede, The Netherlands.

Birla Cellulose, the pulp and fibre business of the Aditya Birla Group, is a leading sustainability-focused Man-Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF) producer. It operates 12 sites for pulp and fibre manufacturing that apply environmentally efficient closed-loop technologies including recycled materials and enhanced conservation of natural resources. Birla Cellulose is among the top Hot Button Ranking MMCF producers and has been accorded a ‘dark green shirt’ by the Canopy Planet Society. Its five global advanced research centres are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and pilot plants. Birla Cellulose’s fibres are made from renewable wood and are produced using a closed-loop process with significantly lower carbon emissions and lower resource consumption. 

Birla Cellulose collaborates actively with its upstream and downstream partners to create a bigger and broader positive impact on the sustainability of its value chain.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)