Textile recycler Upparel has officially opened a new facility in Cranbourne West, Victoria, in a bid to further reduce fashion waste and bolster textile recycling.
With a footprint of 10,500 square metres, the new facility is capable of processing over 10,000 tonnes of materials annually, believed to be the highest-capacity textile recycling operation within a single site in Australia.
The facility features a ‘farm to fibre to future’ technology, offering complete traceability and transparency from the initial fibre input to the remanufactured output.
A key feature of the site is a completely automated textile recycling line, designed to process any textile type in three minutes.. The 30-metre-long system can process textiles into reusable fibre, and also utilises a metal and hardware remover that can separate and remove zippers, buttons and any other non-textile elements.
Developed by Upparel, the machine can also blend fibres with polyester content ranging from under 10 per cent to over 70 per cent without adjustment, hitting a 90 per cent garment and textile recovery rate. All items that go through the machine can be processed into 'Uptex' – a recycled material used as a sustainable alternative for goods ranging from construction material to signage and packaging.
“We are honoured to be Australia’s leading onshore mechanical textile recycling company with the capacity to manage all stages of textile recovery to sustainable manufacturing underpinned by the most advanced management system monitoring every step of the way,” Upparel co-founder and CEO Michael Elias said.
“Our team has created an engineering marvel of textile transformation, and we couldn’t be prouder of this achievement.”
The new facility will also act as an education space, featuring acrylic viewing windows for students and other visitors to see how the machine works.