In the Netherlands alone, no fewer than 1.2 million items of clothing are tossed in the incinerator every year. Absurd, says painting company Gebroeders van der Geest. That is why it devised a resourceful and circular application for discarded clothing: Denimtex. It literally turns jeans into wall covering.
1.2 million items of clothing, that is a huge amount of materials that will eventually be irrevocably lost in waste incineration. This is how the linear economy is organized, with the possible applications of waste being numerous. In a circular economy, companies innovatively deal with waste and, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as waste. Everything is a raw material in an endless production cycle. The subsidiary of Gebroeders van der Geest unravels used clothing into textile fibers, using fiber-optic machines. With a biobased glue from flaxseed oil, Denimtex ultimately processes the fibers into a paste that can be applied to walls and ceilings. This ceiling and wall covering forms a sustainable alternative to wallpaper and paint that is both recyclable and reusable. For example, Denimtex combines materials from the biological cycle with technological raw materials to produce a product that is 100% circular. This product is not only circular, but also functional. It is sound-absorbing, moisture-regulating and suitable for almost every surface. There is no limit to the assortment of aesthetic motifs to adorn the wall coverings of the house. With an assortment of more than two hundred articles of all kinds of different types of textile, Denimtex offers a suitable product for everyone.
Successes and ambitions
Denimtex has been able to develop a production model that is completely circular. With the wallcovering the company contributes to reducing waste, as well as to the exemption of the hardware that the industry imposes on the earth’s facilities. Because all Denimtex products are recyclable and reusable, waste is not only diverted and deferred, it remains raw material in a circular business model.
The Best Practices
Holland Circular Hotspot (HCH) wants to support international cooperation on the circular economy, with the aim of creating business opportunities and promoting the exchange of knowledge and innovation. In the magazine Circular Is Going Global - Join Holland's Flow you can read which circular best practices the Netherlands has to offer.