Textile Waste Fibre Regeneration via a Green Chemistry Approach: A Molecular Strategy for Sustainable Fashion

Abstract Fast fashion has been widely criticised for its excessive resource use and high generation of textile. To reduce its environmental impacts, numerous efforts have focused on finding sustainable and eco-friendly approaches to textile recycling. However, waste textiles and fibres are still mainly disposed of in landfills or by incineration and thereby pollute the natural environment, as there is still no effective strategy to separate natural fibres from chemical fibres. Herein, we developed a green chemistry strategy for the separation and regeneration of waste textiles at the molecular level. Cellulose/wool keratin composite fibres and multicomponent fibres were regenerated from waste textiles via ionic liquids. Our strategy attempts to reduce the large amount of waste textiles generated by the fast-developing fashion industry and provide a new source of fibres, which can also address the fossil fuel reserve shortages caused by chemical fibre industries and global food shortages caused by natural fibre production.