The launch of the RegioGreenTex project took place in Brussels, with Tèxtils.CAT participating as a partner.
Regions for Green Textiles – RegioGreenTex – is a quadruple helix partnership initiative aimed at mapping and reducing the challenges currently faced in applying a circular economy model within the textile ecosystem across the EU.
RegioGreenTex will support tangible solutions at the SME level to transform textile waste into value. The project will contribute to maintaining and developing jobs in the EU textile sector by relocating production to Europe and promoting a more competitive and resilient EU textile value chain. It will also contribute to the EU Green Deal objectives of reducing carbon footprint, energy, and water consumption.
Led by EURATEX, the project brings together 43 partners from 11 European regions, including 24 pioneering SMEs focused on innovative solutions for recycling textile waste. These SMEs cover various segments of the circular textile value chain (sorting, recycling material into fiber, contaminant removal, processing recycled fibers into new textile materials) and provide concrete solutions to the bottlenecks in the EU value chain while also seizing market opportunities.
Two members of the cluster, the companies Polisilk and Hilaturas Arnau, will implement their innovative pilot solution within the framework of this project.
RegioGreenTex is supported by the European Commission through the Interregional Investment Instrument for Innovation – I3, coordinated by the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).
The green transition of the advanced textile materials sector in Catalonia is one of Tèxtils.CAT’s strategic priorities.
The cluster has extensive experience in this area. Over the past 8 years, it has led 8 projects, 2 of which were at the European level, aimed at facilitating the replacement of hazardous chemicals in textile finishing processes, eco-design, and industrial symbiosis, among others. It has also participated as a partner in 2 EU projects aimed at promoting the adoption of circular economy and eco-design concepts to enhance the skills of students and workers in the sector.