A new textile-to-textile recycling process validated on an industrial scale
AXENS, IFPEN and JEPLAN have completed a recycling loop for polyester textiles.
PARIS, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Several tens of tons of post-consumer, polyester-rich, European textile wastes, sorted and prepared in France, have been processed in the Axens, IFPEN and JEPLAN semi-industrial demonstration unit, located in Japan, to successfully produce the base monomer of a 100% recycled polyester.
This step paves the way for circular polyester loops for the textile industry, in particular sportswear, home furnishings and the luxury sector.
- AXENS, IFPEN and JEPLAN announce the success of a major industrial test for recycling post-consumer textile waste rich in polyester (PET) using their Rewind® PET technology. This test was carried out in their semi-industrial unit (capacity 1,000 ton/year) operated by JEPLAN in Japan.
- This validation at a significant scale consisted in processing several tens of tons of textiles from the French public collection, sorted and prepared by two French partners, Nouvelles Fibres Textile and Mapea. Several tens of tons of the base monomer of polyester, BHET, have been produced and will soon be converted into polyester yarns, fabrics and garments.
- This industrial textile-to-textile recycling test of several tons of post-consumer PET is one of the first of its kind under representative industrial conditions. It paves the way for large-scale industrial chemical recycling of textile polyester, offering textile stakeholders a building block that can be integrated into a global strategy across the entire value chain committed to reduction, reuse, and textile recycling.
A breakthrough innovation that can be deployed on existing sites
This innovative process can be advantageously installed at industrial sites around the world that produce polyester for the textile industry, thereby enabling the substitution of fossil-based raw materials with their recycled equivalents.
Markets and deployment model
The technology, already proven and commercialized for recycling all PET packaging, including food-contact applications, is now validated for textile use under an exclusive license granted by IFPEN/JEPLAN to Axens worldwide to any industrial player wishing to develop local or regional textile-to-textile loops.
Enable the development of circularity
In a world where volumes of textile wastes are rapidly increasing and where textile-to-textile recycling remains limited, this semi-industrial test provides concrete proof that a circular production of polyester can now be rapidly implemented on a significant scale, from post-consumer waste streams.
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SOURCE AXENS; IFPEN; JEPLAN
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