7.04 From textile waste to resource: exploring industrial symbiosis opportunities between the textile and the furniture sectors

REFERENCE SPOKE
Spoke 7
OTHER SPOKES

Spoke 2

PROJECT LEADER
Rosa Maria Dangelico, Roberta Pellegrino
PROPOSER
Politecnico di Bari
PARTNERS

Università degli Studi di Palermo, Politecnico di Torino, Natuzzi S.p.A. 
7.04 From textile waste to resource: exploring industrial symbiosis opportunities between the textile and the furniture sectors

The textile sector is one of the most environmentally impacting activities at a global level, both in relation to the processes that characterise the supply chain and in relation to pre- and post-consumption waste. According to the SMI (Sistema Moda Italia) Textile and Fashion Federation, the textile sector produces 3.4 million tonnes of global greenhouse gas emissions annually and about 150.000 tonnes of wastes, with in 2019 the 46% of textile waste sent to material recovery and 11% to incineration (Italy of Recycling Report 2021).

Textile waste has great potential for industrial symbiosis applications, as demonstrated also by some successful cases in construction and paper industries (Maranesi and De Giovanni, 2020). However, a clear understanding of the industrial symbiosis opportunities coming from the use of textile waste as resources is surprisingly lacking in the current literature. This requires to identify effective industrial symbiosis processes, design their business models, and assess their environmental and economic performance. In particular, the project focuses on two promising opportunities with the furniture sector, i.e. sound-absorbing furniture products and upholstery and packaging products. Furthermore, a successful adoption of industrial symbiosis opportunities requires to overcome strategic barriers from the supply and the demand sides. A relevant problem from the supply side is to define risk mitigation strategies for the supply of the secondary raw materials. From the demand side, how consumers value the industrial symbiosis practice as well as purchase intention and willingness to pay for products deriving from industrial symbiosis are critical to be addressed.

The project will consist of the following 6 work-packages that will be collaboratively carried out by project partners:

  • WP1. Tools to identify effective industrial symbiosis processes, aimed at developing tools integrating input-output and queueing models to measure the degree at which a system of production processes performs industrial symbiosis.
  • WP2. Opportunities for sound-absorbing furniture products, aimed at designing potential symbiotic supply chains, technologically feasible and eco-sustainable, of the sound-absorbing furnishings from textile waste.
  • WP3. Opportunities for upholstery and packaging products, aimed at proposing effective local and cross- sectoral industrial symbiosis supply chains exploiting textile waste as upholstery and packaging materials using the Systemic Design methodology.
  • WP4. Innovative industrial symbiosis business models, aimed at designing industrial symbiosis business models for the IS opportunities, identified in WP2 and WP3, adopting a supply chain perspective.
  • WP5. Supply-side barriers to industrial symbiosis, aimed at assessing the main risks affecting the industrial symbiosis models with particularly emphasis for secondary raw materials supply and identifying proper risk mitigation strategies.
  • WP6. Demand-side barriers to industrial symbiosis, aimed at assessing how consumers value the IS practices in terms of perceived characteristics of products deriving from industrial symbiosis in the furniture industry (e.g., quality, safety, aesthetics, green utility) as well as on investigating consumers’ purchase intention and willingness to pay more for these products.
RISULTATI ATTESI

WP1. Tools to identify effective industrial symbiosis processes (M3-M24)
Key exploitative results:

  • Developing analytical and simulation models of representative networks of production processes able to exchange waste for primary and intermediate inputs
  • Developing waste (energy and materials) inventory stocks model to evaluate the degree of effectiveness of industrial symbiosis for each network and sector
  • Formulating good practices to manage the related inventory stocks

Deliverables:

  • Report on literature review (M9)
  • Report on analytical and simulation models proposed (M12)
  • Report on waste inventory stocks model (M24)
  • Report on case studies (M24)
  • Report on good practices to manage the symbiotic inventory stocks (M36)

WP2. Opportunities for sound-absorbing furniture products (M3-M24)
Key exploitative results:

  • Proof of concept and prototype of sound-absorbing materials and furniture elements using textile waste
  • Designing symbiotic supply chains of sound-absorbing furniture from textile waste characterized by geographical proximity among firms
  • LCA analysis of the environmental impact of the sound-absorbing furnishings from textile waste

Deliverables:

  • Report on literature analysis (M9)
  • Report on the design of local symbiotic supply chains (M12)
  • Report on the LCA analysis (M24)

WP3. Visual tools for identifying opportunities for upholstery and packaging products (M3-M15)
Key exploitative results:

  • Designing visual tools to unlock the potential of a territory to develop local and cross-sectoral symbiotic supply chains of upholstery and packaging products from textile waste using gigamap and System Design methodology
  • Developing a roadmap action to implement the IS practices identified on short, medium and long term

Deliverables:

  • Visual “gigamap” of the territory and the company’s flows (M6)
  • Visual “gigamap” on the different supply chains’ connections (M10)
  • Report on guidelines to exploit opportunities for the upholstery, packaging and other sectors (M15)

WP4. Innovative industrial symbiosis business models (M3-M36)
Key exploitative results:

  • Advancing the knowledge on the design and implementation of effective industrial symbiosis business models involving textile waste as sound-absorbing furniture, upholstery, and packaging materials
  • Lab validation of the industrial symbiosis business models proposed

Deliverables:

  • Report on literature analyses (M9)
  • Report on the design of industrial symbiosis business models for the opportunities identified (M24)
  • Report on the simulation of the industrial symbiosis business models (M36)
  • Report on the guidelines to design industrial symbiosis business models (M36)

WP5. Supply-side barriers to industrial symbiosis (M3-M24)
Key exploitative results:

  • Advancing the understanding of secondary raw materials risks related to industrial symbiosis models identified
  • Proposing a risk management framework for industrial symbiosis
  • Developing managerial guidelines for mitigating supply risks for secondary raw materials

Deliverables:

  • Report on the literature review on supply risks affecting the industrial symbiosis (M9)
  • Report on the risk management framework (M15)
  • Report on case studies (M24)

WP6. Demand-side barriers to industrial symbiosis (M3-M24)
Key exploitative results:

  • Advancing the knowledge on how customers value the circular furniture and packaging materials
  • Developing policy guidelines to improve consumers’ awareness on sustainable products from industrial symbiosis
  • Developing managerial guidelines for marketing of products from industrial symbiosis

Deliverables:

  • Report on literature analysis (M9),
  • Report with the questionnaire (M11)
  • Report on data analysis and results (M24)

Project n.: PE_00000004
MADE IN ITALY CIRCOLARE E SOSTENIBILE
C.F. 97931690156

Contatti

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