Characterizing Textile Waste with Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Though nearly all textiles are completely recyclable, we are not currently utilizing this. Only about one percent of textiles are actually recycled into new fabric.

Due to the extreme amounts of textile that continue to be produced, it is becoming increasingly important that we lean into the recyclability of the product, but we must first discover the most effective way to do so. In order to achieve this, researchers are developing an approach that uses NIR spectroscopy with a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) platform and a portable spectroradiometer to extract data on the fabric composition to identify what it is comprised of, and therefor how it can be recycled.

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