GENEVA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Other than being reused as cleaning cloths or reprocessed wool, a group of Swiss researchers said on Wednesday that they have found that used textiles can be used to produce yarn and fleece for new carpets and insulating materials.
Researchers at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Texaid said in a media statement that they developed methods to spin the old clothing in Switzerland into a coarse yarn which is suitable for making carpets.
Design and material researchers also created prototypes from the short fibers and even from the dust which arises when fabrics are torn. These prototypes could be used for noise insulation, they said.
With its headquarters in the Canton of Uri and one of the leading service providers of textile recycling in Europe, Texaid said that each year it collects around 37,000 tons of old clothes in Switzerland and some 30 percent of the textiles collected are in too poor condition to be worn again as second-hand clothing.
The purpose of the new research is to make these textiles be recycled for high-quality uses, the researchers said.
According to the statement, the researchers have produced their first prototypes, and in a follow-up project, new methods could be found to spin fine yarn from used textiles -- so fine that it can be used to manufacture new clothes again.
