Recycling of Low Grade Clothing Waste - Oakdene Hollins

© Oakdene Hollins Ltd, Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd
Nonwovens Innovation & Research Institute Ltd September 2006
Experimental composite Sample 1 (right in Figure 9) was made directly
from a reinforcing web of recycled polyester/cotton fibres: no bonding was
employed before forming the composite. Experimental composite Sample 2
(left in Figure 9) incorporated a needle‐punched fabric composed of
recovered polyacrylonitrile fibres as the precursor.
Figure 9: Formed Composite Materials Reinforced with Clothing Fibre Waste
The waste fibre reinforced composite materials produced were strong, light
and relatively stiff and appeared promising for use in non‐load bearing
composite applications. Quantitative analysis is on‐going to determine the
mechanical properties and thermal properties of these composite materials
compared to commercial materials produced from synthetic compounds.
11.2 Emergency Thermal Insulation
Emergency blankets are designed to protect individuals in the event of an
accident or natural disaster; they must be cost‐effective and rapidly
available. Hydro‐entanglement was selected to produce fabrics for this
application to give good mechanical conformability. Fabrics were produced
from recovered acrylic/wool blended garments because of their inherently
low thermal conductivity. The fibre was combined with two pre‐made,
lightweight spunlace fabrics to produce a multi‐layer construct (for process
details, see Appendix V). The final fabric was then produced by thermal
lamination with aluminium foil films to further improve thermal properties
in relation to radiation, see Figure 10.
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