1. THE CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

Every year, the world produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste. In Australia, Sustainability Victoria reports that the average Victorian generates 28 kilograms of textile waste annually. That’s more than 100 t-shirts per person—or roughly one every 2.5 days. It’s estimated that 95% of clothing sent to landfill could be reused or recycled, yet only 7% is currently recycled. Beyond filling up landfill, textiles also consume 98 million tonnes of non-renewable resources globally each year—such as oil for synthetic fibres, fertilisers for cotton farming, and chemicals for dyeing.

Researchers at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) develop a process to extract pigments from discarded textiles and fabrics made from natural fibres. With support from Sustainability Victoria and State Government funding, IFM successfully creates an innovative method for recycling colour pigments from textile waste. The project builds on an initial concept that won the H&M Foundation Global Change Award in 2017.

Recycling textile waste is challenging due to mixed materials and varied colours, but IFM overcomes this by extracting micro pigments from colour-sorted textiles. These pigments have multiple uses, including textile printing, vegan leather production, and artistic applications.

Associate Professor Rangam Rajkhowa, a leading textile recycling expert at Deakin, pioneers a technique that physically grinds textile waste into a fine powder repurposed as pigment.

“We’re taking lower-end textile waste that would otherwise be unrecyclable and applying green chemistry to break it down into usable particles. Our approach minimizes energy and resource use, making it a truly sustainable process where nothing is wasted. One kilogram of textile waste produces one kilogram of pigment.”
(Rajkhowa, Sustainability Victoria, 2023)

IFM researchers refine this method by engineering microparticles that retain the original textile colours. Using both dry and wet grinding, they optimise the size, shape, and cohesion of particles to allow for precision printing, consistent colour, and compatibility with screen printing, spray application, and brush painting.