The forest - a prerequisite for a renewable and circular textile industry
For generations, the forest has helped build our country's prosperity. More than 50,000 family forest businesses in Södra own forests that are a fantastic asset for the country's economy, employment, a vibrant countryside, and forest diversity. The raw material from family forestry becomes wood products, construction systems, paper and textile pulp*, chemicals, energy, and much more.
As we refine and develop forest products for a more circular and sustainable society, we occasionally encounter issues and challenges where we see the need for change. In this summary, we highlight the main issues and needs we see to be able to contribute even more to the textile industry's green transition.
The textile industry must transform
By 2050, the need for new textile fibers is estimated to more than double. Today's textile industry is one of the most resource-intensive and polluting industries in the world and relies mainly on fossil synthetic fibers and water-intensive cotton. Only a small portion of the world's textile fibers are based on forest raw material and only a fraction of the millions of tons of textile waste is recycled.
Many Swedish fashion companies have high sustainability goals and work with long-term ambitions to create renewable and circular textiles. This will require renewable and circular raw material that is not fossil-based. If part of the fossil raw material is replaced with renewable raw material from the forest, it also benefits when it grows and binds carbon dioxide. Södra wants to be part of the textile industry's journey.
Textiles from wood pulp
Södra's textile pulp forms the raw material for the textile industry for the manufacture of, among other things, viscose, lyocell, and modal. It is mainly made from birch, beech, and aspen, creating a demand for pulp from deciduous trees. More deciduous trees lead to more mixed forests and increased diversity in the forest.
Thanks to the knowledge that Södra has developed regarding textile pulp, recycling of mixed textiles has been possible, which is a solution that contributes to increased circularity for the textile industry. Södra's pulp for the textile industry is delivered with a traceability certificate, ensuring that the wood raw material comes from responsible forestry and has a verified origin.
Textile waste can improve and increase
From January 1, 2025, all EU Member States must collect textiles separately, according to the waste directive. Södra's chemical recycling of textiles is a solution to the challenge that less than 1 percent of textiles are recycled. Additionally, we can material recycle mixed textiles, which a large part of the world's textile production consists of, making Södra's recycling method groundbreaking.
Households primarily sort to sell as second-hand, and much of the other textiles, which could be recycled, end up in incineration.
In our process, cotton is separated from polyester. Polyester is currently used for energy recovery and thereby contributes negatively to Södra's climate impact. Polyester, a fiber we have not placed on the market, we pay emission allowances for as there is currently no technology to make it circular other than through energy recovery.
The political debate on textiles tends to focus unilaterally on reuse to achieve a more circular textile industry. Reuse is good, but it's only part of the solution, political solutions must also include recycling and sorting. Above all, how textiles are sorted is of great importance to Södra. Södra's recycling process focuses on textiles that cannot be used again. To sort for recycling, we need textiles sorted by fiber content, coloring technique, contaminants etc. Here, textiles require more reliable labeling and better technology to read fiber content and contaminants. Going forward, digital labeling will be important, containing information on environmental performance, materials, chemical composition, product images, country of manufacture, care instructions, and more, and readable in a large-scale automatic sorting facility.
The need to recycle textiles will increase since not everything will be reusable. With a ban on incineration of textiles, the waste stream will increase, and it is important to think renewable material choice and composition already at the design stage to increase the possibility of a renewable and circular textile industry.
The textile pulp from Södra is approved for the production of eco-labeled products according to the Swan and EU Ecolabel. Södra's product OnceMore® is a unique process where recycled textile is combined with our wood-based textile pulp, a solution contributing to renewable and circular textiles. We have developed one of the world's first large-scale processes for chemical recycling of textile waste with blended materials. To certify the OnceMore® pulp, the recycled content, Södra uses The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS). Textile waste approved in this certification comes from textile manufacturing waste and post-consumer waste. Certifications that work in an international context are important. It is a way to set requirements and ensure quality, but it is also about creating high credibility in the value chain for renewable and circular textiles
What political initiatives does Södra need to move forward?
Södra calls for a broader scope in political instruments for textiles, with a focus on more stages in the value chain—from renewable raw material to textile product, and from waste to textile product. This work must take place both in Sweden and at the EU level. Below are some of the initiatives we consider to be priorities:
National level:
- The public sector should lead by example by setting requirements for sustainable textiles in public procurement.
- Incentives should be created to encourage the use of sustainable textiles in the production of new textile materials.
- Swedish universities should place greater emphasis on renewable materials and circular design in relevant educational programmes.
- A government inquiry should be commissioned to compile the findings of existing investigations and explore the potential for further concrete measures and instruments that promote sustainable textiles.
- The Swedish Government should ensure that its national interpretation of the forthcoming extended producer responsibility is harmonised with that of other EU member states.
EU level:
- The EU should define what constitutes a sustainable textile and a circular textile, in a way that aligns with a global perspective.
- The EU should develop a standard—similar to the EN643 standard for recovered paper, and the voluntary European standards through CEPI—to enable efficient sorting of textiles and achieve a harmonised fraction system across Europe.
- The EU should introduce a harmonised extended producer responsibility for the internal market.
- The EU should launch systems for transparency and traceability through certifications that are feasible to implement across a global value chain.
- Performance requirements for textiles should be based on the quality of collected data rather than the quantity—prioritising high-quality criteria that actors in the value chain can realistically meet.
- Compliance with regulations must be significantly improved in textile labelling if legislation is to have the intended impact.
- Until digital labelling becomes widespread, physical labelling of fibre content must be improved and made clearer.