Comparative energy demand and carbon footprint analysis of textile waste management systems in Australia

Abstract Textile waste management has become a pressing problem for developed nations due to over consumption and throw-away culture. Production-related CO2 emission in textile sector is well investigated to some extent but little has been done identifying the best practice of downstream processing, such as incineration, mechanical recycling, and chemical recycling. This study aims to develop energy demand and carbon footprint analysis model in CCalC2 software to identify the best solution for Australia, which is one of the highest consumers of textile products and second largest generator of textile waste per capita. A model was developed according to the lifecycle assessment standards of ISO 14044 and PAS2050 embedded in the software along with the Ecoinvent database. Secondary data sources were used for the modelling. Four distinct scenarios have been developed, 100% landfilling (as the baseline), 100% incineration, mechanical recycling, and chemical recycling of cotton portion of the textile waste. Results of the study showed that chemical recycling is the best option in terms of energy and recycled pulp material saving, while it was the most carbon intensive process (6,401 kg CO2eq/1000 kg). It is estimated that mechanical recycling process would emit around 5,368 kg CO2eq/1000 kg – the least CO2 emitting process. Surprisingly, incineration showed a similar trend of CO2 emission (e.g., 5,897 kg CO2eq)/1000 kg of mechanical recycling and such option could only be pursued if thermal energy recovery and electricity production are considered. Several limitations and future directions have been mentioned in the study which should be conducted in the future.