Market Research on Available Textile Waste Recycling Technologies for Northern Finland, Norway, and Sweden

• Main Author: Medina, Charmaine
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: International Business; fi=Liiketalous; hallinto ja markkinointi|sv=Företagsekonomi; förvaltning och marknadsföring|en=Business Management; Administration and Marketing|; textiles; textile waste; textile industry; textile technology; recycling; Bachelor of Business Administration; Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/850165

This thesis was commissioned research under the THREAD project which aims to explore the circularity of textiles with a focus on reuse and recycling within the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) communities. The necessity of this research stems from the continuously growing amount of textile consumption and waste globally but having inadequate recycling facilities and technologies in place. The Research & Development project managers of Kajaani University of Applied Sciences reached out to International Business students to conduct market research specifically on available textile waste recycling technologies. With a need to delimit the study, the Northern regions of Finland, Norway, and Sweden were chosen as the areas of focus due to their proximity to one another and their shared demographical and geographical characteristics. There were three research objectives in the study: to identify the currently available textile waste technologies, explore the current textile waste recycling landscape within the public sectors of the regions, and to eventually determine which of the identified technologies would be commercially viable for the areas. The author reviewed existing literature to establish the research and conceptual background. The Best Available Techniques (BAT) method and the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) were employed to answer the first question. Interviews were conducted to gather primary data from industry experts and a qualitative content analysis was utilized to extract themes and patterns from the responses. Both secondary and primary data were then consolidated to answer the second and third research questions. The key findings of the research were discussed per research question. Five categories of textile recycling technologies were identified along with their strengths and weaknesses and respective maturity levels. Among these are mechanical, thermal, thermo-mechanical, chemical, and thermo-chemical methods. The current recycling landscape among the regions highlights the challenges ...