Loom Carbon, RTI International partner to scale textile recycling technology

Singapore-based Loom Carbon and independent scientific research institute RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, have announced a research collaboration designed to scale Loom’s proprietary thermal chemical recycling platform, which converts hard-to-recycle textiles into carbon-neutral materials.

According to statistics provided by RTI, global textile waste exceeds 92 million tons annually, with recycling rates at less than 15 percent.

Loom’s process converts mixed and contaminated textiles into outputs that can reenter industrial supply chains. These outputs include circular pigments and materials that replace fossil-derived inputs in textiles, coatings and plastics; carbon materials that can be integrated into cement, asphalt and composites; and excess thermal energy to power operations.

These pathways demonstrate how textile waste can be recycled into durable, circular products rather than being landfilled or incinerated, RTI says.

“Together with RTI, Loom is demonstrating that blended textile waste can be recycled into valuable resources,” Loom Carbon CEO Kimberly Landry says. “This collaboration moves us from pilot to commercial readiness proving textile waste is a resource, not a liability.”

This project will take place at RTI’s Pilot Xcelerator facility, which aims to help startups, commercial partners and government-funded teams scale technologies from the lab to real-world applications.

“We are proud to leverage RTI's world-class Pilot Xcelerator facility as well as our expertise in process engineering and emissions validation to help accelerate a proven, scalable solution to textile waste,” says David C. Dayton, senior fellow and director of biofuels at RTI International. “Together, we aim to deliver real, sustainable benefits as this technology moves toward commercial deployment.”

The 12-month program will focus on scaling Loom’s system to process challenging textile waste streams, validating product quality and preparing for commercial deployment. This will target the processing of millions of tons of textile waste annually in Southeast Asia, Europe, North America and other markets with emerging textile stewardship regulations, RTI says.