An Israeli startup offers to look at the 'end of life of the garment' from a different point of view. Through a rapid development process, the TextRe company was able to show a significant potential to reduce the damage caused by textile waste, and even prove the programming for profitability
By Ruth Armida Molcho, Zavita – Science and Environment News Agency

Recently, many testimonies and studies began to accumulate about the pollution and the enormous damages caused by the textile industry. According to UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), this industry consumes 215 trillion liters of water per year (equivalent to 86 million Olympic swimming pools), as well as being responsible for 2 percent to 8 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 9 percent of marine microfiber pollution Thanks to Western consumption habits and industry the fashion Cheap and disposable, it is also responsible for the production of About 92 million tons of waste per year, which mostly ends up in landfills. The Israeli startup TextRe presents a real potential for reducing the damage caused by textile waste.
Jump into the world of entrepreneurship
the story of TextRe Starting with a family factory that, until the days of disengagement, operated at the Erez checkpoint and produced clothes for Israeli fashion companies. Lee Cohen, founder and CEO, spent many hours as a child in the family business, wandering among the production machines and among the thousands of pieces of fabric that fell and covered the factory floor and eventually ended up in the trash. Her attention to the subject was awakened even then. When she grew up, she turned to law school and forgot about the whole thing.
Cohen's curiosity and attraction to the worlds of industry and material did not abate, and upon completing her law degree, she enrolled in an entrepreneurship program at Reichman College. As part of the program, she examined materials used in detached growing media (for example, shelves or walls on which plants are grown and which are not connected to the ground), and discovered that some of them, like the peat soil, are polluting. "In one of the lectures we talked about the damages of the textile industry and I remembered that I have a connection to this world through my father's factory," she says. Then an idea occurred to her: "I had an unscientific premise that a mixture of materials that are some natural and some synthetic can create a good base for plant growth, because some of the detached substrates are 100 percent natural material like coconut, and some are not. Then the vision began to develop in me that textile waste is not It's waste and it's not cheating either - it's just material."

The flakes from which plastic products can be made are recycled. Photo courtesy of TextRe
Between fashion and agriculture
The first study for the development of lightweight mixtures for agricultural crops from textile waste was carried out in the experimental section of the company LivinGreen in Emek Hafer. "Plants need a moist environment and a place where bacteria can take hold," explains owner Moti Cohen, who, together with the company's in-house agronomist, recognized the potential inherent in the transition of materials between the worlds of textiles and agriculture.
As part of a series of controlled experiments that lasted about a year, Cohen and his team grew spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplants on a substrate of shredded textile mixtures. "We wanted to understand if we had a competitive product," Cohen tells me. "We checked the nutrients, and made sure that there was no leakage of unwanted substances into the plant and that the weight of the lettuce was not affected, because in the end that is what interests the farmer. No one will pay for sustainability, with all the good will." The success of the experiments led to the start of the patent registration process, and attracted attention in the world of sustainable agriculture. Then naturally the question of the end of the product's life arose.
Bacteria that break down plastic
The question of the end of the product's life led Cohen and her team to the research laboratory of Prof. Ariel Kushmaro in the Department of Biotechnology Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. There, the researchers led by Kushmaro were able to isolate from contaminated soil bacteria that know how to decompose Plastic. "Environmental bacteria with a certain ability to break down plastic can give an indication in a relatively short time of the success of various plastic products in breaking down in the environment," explains Kushmaro, who was surprised to discover the connection made by TextRe between the worlds of agriculture and textiles - many of our clothes are made of polyester, i.e. plastic. "Today's thinking is changing. If we used to say - there is material, we used it, now let's throw it in the trash - today there are young startup companies that are changing the approach and trying to understand how the waste can be utilized."

Eggplants grown in the detached substrate in the TextRe trial at LivinGreen's farm. Photo courtesy of TextRe
The market value of plastic
In light of the success in the field of agriculture, TextRe realized that it was worth examining additional development directions. "We also started researching the field of plastics based on the assumption that most textiles today are made from synthetic fibers," says Cohen. "From our perspective on waste as a product, we realized that there is tremendous economic potential here." According to a report Analyzing the plastics market, the global market value in 2023 is estimated to be approximately $624 billion, and forecasts are that the market will continue to grow at an annual growth rate of approximately 4 percent until 2028, bringing the market to a total value of over $700 billion. "I don't use a by-product of the textile industry to make another roll of cloth," says Cohen. "I treat the waste itself as a product that can be a raw material for the entire plastic industry." This is exactly the innovative approach of TextRe as a company.
The decision to continue researching textile waste as a renewable source of raw materials led Cohen and her team for plastics up, the innovation laboratories in the field of materials headed by the founder and CEO Dr. Yanir Shaked. On the basis of the company's technology pool and capabilities, the laboratories succeeded in a short time to arrive at plastic mixtures that incorporate 50 percent of textile waste without destroying the properties and qualities of the fibers. About a year later, TextRe received a grant of half a million dollars from the Innovation Authority, which enables continued development.
Today, TextRe is progressing in the process of registering a patent for a plastic compound based on textile waste that can serve as a competitive substitute for various sectors in the industry, starting with the automotive industry, through the consumer goods and furniture market, electronics and electricity. The product can even allow fashion and home style companies to implement a full circular economy that meets future standards.
It is important to understand that "within the plastics industry today there is almost no 'factory' waste, since there is a clear economic motive for this," says Shaked. That is, inside the factories there is no waste of plastic; Byproducts continue to be used within the industry. "But when you look at the post-consumer (products that left the factory gate and became waste at the end of use), the potential of the raw materials is endless and its environmental significance is much greater. One of the main questions is how much it will cost compared to the alternative and what the quality of the product will be," he concludes.
A witness on the subject on the science website: