Recovering cotton fibre from UK post-consumer, mixed composition textile waste for use in paper manufacturing

James Cropper plc is a world-class advanced materials and paper products group, with an operational reach in over 50 countries. Using materials from cotton and wood to carbon fibre we support industries from packaging to digital imaging and aerospace with products that are at the cutting edge of performance.

At James Cropper plc we would like to work on a unique innovation project that studies the use of alternative natural fibres (sourced from a UK post consumer waste stream) for the papermaking process.

We recognise that the UK is the fourth largest producer of textile waste in Europe with only 10% currently being recycled - More than 200,000 tonnes of UK textile waste is sent to landfill or burnt every year.

The project will study the use of UK post consumer textile waste used as a raw material in papermaking and moulded pulp process.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in our current global supply chain and this project will reduce the risk of future supply chain interruptions through the identification of a viable, UK based alternative fibre to our current, globally sourced virgin wood pulp.