Brands are leaning on ‘recycled’ clothes to meet sustainability goals. How are they made? And why is recycling them further so hard?

Recycling clothing isn’t like recycling paper, glass or metal. Clothes are endlessly variable and unpredictable. So they’re not ideal for recycling technologies, which require a steady and consistent source material. Even a seemingly simple garment may contain multiple materials, with fibre blends such as cotton/polyester and cotton/elastane being common.

Elexon Electronics invests $4m in industry 4.0

Elexon Electronics has invested nearly $4 million in new design, prototyping and manufacturing equipment with a focus on Industry 4.0 interconnectedness and automation. The initial procurement round of high-precision automated surface-mount technology (SMT) equipment allowed intelligent material handling, solder paste jetting, vacuum vapour phase soldering and X-Ray inspection. More recent procurement of intelligent production, inspection…

WA battery metals prospectus targets investment

The Western Australian state government has launched a new prospectus promoting investment opportunities in the state’s growing battery and critical minerals industries. The prospectus, which has already been presented to potential investors in Germany by development minister Roger Cook, aims to build on the state’s minerals endowment and local companies’ increasing involvement in critical metals…

Sparc to manufacture graphene additive coatings

Graphene technology company Sparc Technologies has developed a commercial manufacturing process for the production of graphene based additive products, and will begin manufacture. The company has identified, trailed and ordered specialised graphene based additive manufacturing equipment and has located a manufacturing site. Sparc managing director Mike Bartels said: “Our path to commercialisation is now clear…