Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto (LSJH) in Paimio, Finland, has successfully started up a new Andritz pilot line for research and development work on post-consumer textile recycling. The Exel tearing machine for post-consumer textile waste can process up to 500 kg/h for spinning quality and up to 1 t/h for nonwoven fibre quality.

The entire process is designed to ensure the total absence of metallic material in the fibres and remove hard, non-textile items using cleaning devices, highly sensitive metal traps, and metal detectors.

LSJH is a municipal waste management company in Finland specialised in processing post-consumer household textiles into a variety of customised raw materials containing high-quality fibres. As Finland will be the first country in the world to start post-consumer textile collection on a national scale in a few months’ time, the LSJH Paimio recycling facility is the location where large amounts of textile waste will be fed to a sustainable and responsible circulatory solution, the two companies said in a joint media release.

Process engineer Conny Gabrielsson said: “We are very grateful to Andritz and its team members for their assistance during the installation of our pilot line for processing textiles. The project was executed on time with a high level of professionalism, and the continuing support is a true sign of dedication. Andritz provided us with turnkey equipment that enables us to deliver textile raw material solutions of high quality to meet our end-customers’ various needs – now and in the future.”

This order once again underlines Andritz’s strong market position as one of the leading suppliers of machines and systems in Finland as well as highlighting the company’s expertise in challenging situations.