Textile Recycling
When Textile Circularity Demands Go Beyond Mechanical Recycling
The global textile industry is under growing pressure to reduce waste and enable true circularity. While mechanical recycling remains useful for certain clean, mono material textiles, it struggles with blended fibres, dyes, finishes, and degraded materials. As a result, less than one percent of textiles are currently recycled back into new fibres, while the majority are landfilled or incinerated.
To close the loop for synthetic textiles such as polyester, the industry increasingly relies on chemical recycling technologies, including chemical depolymerisation — processes that break polymers down into their original building blocks. These technologies often require highly selective, high purity chemicals that can deliver performance without adding unnecessary complexity or environmental burden.
Enabling Advanced Chemical Recycling Through Specialized Chemistry
SALTIGO supports the transition toward textile to textile recycling by supplying and industrialising the critical molecules needed for advanced depolymerisation processes. As a custom manufacturing partner, SALTIGO is well positioned to supply and scale high purity specialty chemicals, including amines, organocatalysts, and tailored intermediates that enable the selective cleavage of polymer chains and recovery of virgin quality monomers from polyester fibres.
Beyond molecule supply, SALTIGO brings deep expertise in process development, catalysis, and industrial scale up, helping recycling innovators translate laboratory concepts into robust, large scale solutions. Produced in Europe at SALTIGO’s integrated sites in Leverkusen and Dormagen, these specialty chemicals can also be manufactured under low carbon conditions through the company’s sustainable “Net Zero Custom Manufacturing” approach.
By enabling reliable access to the right chemistry at the right scale, SALTIGO helps turn textile waste into valuable raw materials - supporting a circular future for synthetic fibres.
