Melt It, Spin It, Use It Again. This New Recyclable Yarn Is as Strong and Stretchy as Spandex-Based Yarns

MIT engineers design recyclable elastic yarn

MIT engineers hope to cut down on the world’s growing mountain of textile waste with their new recyclable elastic yarn. Made from polyethylene, the yarn has the strength and flexibility of spandex but it can be easily melted and respun many times.

Melt it, spin it, use it again. This new recyclable yarn is as strong and stretchy as spandex-based yarns

After a closet cleanout, what options are there for recycling our old threads? Not many. Apart from bringing used clothes to a donation center, there is no process for recycling textiles like there is for bottles and cans. The average American throws out around 81 pounds of clothing each year. That amounts to more than 11 million tons of textiles that end up in landfills or incinerators.

MIT Engineers Create Recyclable Elastic Yarn for Sustainable Textiles

MIT engineers have developed a recyclable elastic yarn designed to tackle the growing problem of textile waste. With most stretchy garments containing spandex, end-of-life recycling is notoriously difficult—typically requiring chemical separation of different polymer layers. The new approach replaces that mixed-material problem with a yarn built from polyethylene, a widely produced plastic. The researchers’ material […]