PESCO-UP Newsletter

Separating Cotton and Polyester at Pilot Scale

Polycotton is the most widely used textile blend in the world, and for good reason. Polyester brings durability, wrinkle resistance and easy care, while cotton adds softness, breathability and moisture absorption. But the combination that makes polycotton so popular also makes it notoriously difficult to recycle.

Before either fibre can be recovered and reused in new textiles or other high-value applications, the cotton and polyester components must be separated; a step that has long been one of the main technical barriers to chemical textile recycling.

Within the PESCO-UP project, two complementary ideas are now being piloted, each demonstrating a different route to splitting blended cotton/polyester (CO/PES) waste into two clean, reusable material fractions: a chemical-mechanical separation process developed by Nordic Bioproducts Group (NBG), and the Biocelsol dissolution technology piloted by VTT.

PESCO-UP Policy Event in Brussels

On 13 January 2026, PESCO-UP and CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies) brought together key stakeholders in Brussels for the high-level Policy Event "Digital product passports: The golden thread through textile recycling?" The session examined how DPPs can reshape the textile industry by closing the information gap between production and end-of-life.

Event Recap & Policy Paper

PESCO-UP in Brussels for 5th consortium meeting

On 14-15 January 2026, the PESCO-UP consortium met in Brussels, Belgium, for its fifth project consortium meeting, bringing together partners for two days of productive exchange and alignment. Discussions covered progress updates, technology assessment, value chain modelling, exploitation of results, and pilot trials. The second day, kindly hosted by CEPS, focused on upcoming deliverables and key takeaways from the policy event held on 13 January.

PESCO-UP takes sustainable fibres from Lab to Fabric

Our partner STFI has been putting PESCO-UP materials to the test across the full textile production chain. From fibre opening and carding to ring and open-end spinning, and through to flat bed and circular knitting, STFI has generated a comprehensive suite of yarn and fabric samples. These trials provide the critical data needed to evaluate how innovative, sustainable fibres perform under real industrial manufacturing conditions, bringing PESCO-UP one step closer to optimized, circular textile production.

PESCO-UP at Techtextil 2026

On 21-24 April, the PESCO-UP partners STFI and Textile ETP partecipated at Techtextil in Frankfurt, connecting with fair participants to share recent developments and highlight the main goals of the PESCO-UP initiative.
The event provided a valuable opportunity to engage with the broader textile community and bring the project's work to an international audience.

PESCO-UP at the 20th Textile ETP Annual Conference 2026

On 26-27 May the PESCO-UP project was featured at the 20th Textile ETP Annual Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Representing the project were the entire Textile ETP team as event organisers, along with Lien Van der Schueren & Guy Buyle from Centexbel, and Traci Kinden from Texroad.
The project partners engaged with conference attendees, sharing updates on recent progress and the key objectives of the PESCO-UP initiative.

Click on the photos to meet Megija Valtera from Riga Technical University, and Ramona Dremljuga from CIVITTA,
and discover their activities within PESCO-UP and
their hopes for the project!

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or HADEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.