Emerging textile bio-recycling approaches can address the environmental challenges associated with the end-of-life of clothing. However, it is imperative to assess the environmental impacts associated with these technologies, systematically, to ensure they are environmentally sustainable. The objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental implications of a novel bio-recycling method that recovers polyester (PET) fibres and glucose, from 50/50 cotton/PET blend of fabric waste from H&M, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The chosen functional unit is one kg of recovered PET fibre. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) was conducted in terms of ReCiPe, both midpoint and endpoint indicators, and Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) impact categories. LCA results of the gate-to-cradle analysis indicate pre-treatment as the most dominant process, followed by melt-spinning and then enzymatic hydrolysis. Sensitivity analysis with Global Warming Potential (GWP) indicator shows that pre-treatment step influences the results and contributes to uncertainty. Pre-treatment (207 MJ) is also the most energy-intensive step, followed by melt-spinning (98.5 MJ) and enzymatic hydrolysis (44.8 MJ). We also describe linkages between addition of PET bottles in the melt-spinning step and environmental impacts. Environmental impacts on all three endpoints increased as the percentage of waste PET bottle chips added was decreased. LCA of the textile bio-recycling method suggests that environmental impacts can be further reduced, provided the involved unit processes are made more energy-efficient, and the fibre quality of the recovered polyester is improved such that it can be directly used for garment production without the need to add waste PET bottle chips.

新兴的纺织品生物回收方法可以解决与服装寿命终止相关的环境挑战。但是，必须系统地评估与这些技术相关的环境影响，以确保它们在环境上可持续。这项研究的目的是评估使用生命周期评估（LCA）从H＆M的50/50棉/ PET织物废料混合物中回收聚酯（PET）纤维和葡萄糖的新型生物回收方法对环境的影响。选择的功能单位是一公斤回收的PET纤维。根据ReCiPe，中点和终点指标以及累积能源需求（CED）影响类别进行了生命周期影响评估（LCIA）。门到摇篮分析的LCA结果表明预处理是最主要的过程，然后进行熔纺，然后进行酶水解。使用全球变暖潜势（GWP）指标进行的敏感性分析表明，预处理步骤会影响结果并导致不确定性。预处理（207 MJ）也是能耗最高的步骤，其次是熔纺（98.5 MJ）和酶促水解（44.8 MJ）。我们还描述了在熔融纺丝步骤中添加PET瓶与环境影响之间的联系。随着废PET瓶碎片添加量的减少，对这三个方面的环境影响均增加。纺织品生物回收方法的LCA表明，只要使所涉及的单元过程更加节能，就可以进一步减少对环境的影响，