Ecouterre Spotlight: A better use for waste

Ecouterre

Of course you already know how much we like hearing about all of the interesting new ways that people are producing, using, and reusing textiles. One of our favourite places to keep up to date on eco-friendly fashion news is Ecouterre, a fantastic online resource for anyone interested in the worlds of environmentalism and of fashion. Well, once again, they did not disappoint us!

Quite often we come across profiles on the Ecouterre website of designers who are innovating ways to reduce textile waste or reuse it by transforming the scraps into something functional, yet beautiful. It’s not quite as often that we come across articles such as this one by Helen Morgan, describing one of the coolest, and perhaps most functional, uses for textile waste that we have ever heard of.

“Textile waste,” Morgan offers, “may have many cool possibilities, but most of them revolve around turning old garments into new.”

However, a civil engineer from California State University has a much different idea about how to use textile waste. He thinks it can actually be used to retrofit buildings prone to earthquakes.

Wait! What was that?

“With the world’s supply of timber, reinforced concrete, and steel diminishing every year, Yu-Fu Ko, a professor at the school’s department of civil engineering and construction engineering management, suggests turning an eye to alternative materials. Textile waste, in addition to its abundance, also has the advantage of being less toxic than typical reinforcements.”

Currently, a carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer composite material is used when retrofitting buildings and bridges. However, making these fibers is a hazardous practice, dangerous to the workers’ health, and not to mention, quite expensive. Ko suggests that mixing textile waste with a bio-derived resin “could deliver the strength of CFRPs with a reduced environmental impact.”

What a fantastic way to approach not just one, but two problems we are being faced with as a global community! We love the way Yu-Fu Ko is thinking outside the box to take something most people wouldn’t think twice about and doing something great with it.

Have you heard of any interesting, innovative or eco-friendly ways people are approaching fashion? We are always on the lookout for new ideas and stories worth sharing and we would love to hear from you! Tweet us @ParkersCleaners and share the ways in which you are reducing, reusing and reimagining the textile world.

If you’re interest in the eco-friendly way we approach dry cleaning and custom clothing care at Parkers, check out Eco-friendly Cleaning Explained.