Stuff4Life

Stuff4Life is a circular economy company who aims to tackle the key challenges in recycling plastic polymers, and in particular the recycling of polyester workwear.

Challenge

Nearly 90% of the 33 million workwear garments supplied annually are being disposed of. Currently, companies have the choice between two unsustainable options: sending their end-of-life PPE and workwear to landfill or to be incinerated.

Workwear and PPE are highly functional items of clothing which need to keep people safe, smart, dry and warm, so they can perform. However, this in turn presents challenges in recycling them given their in-built resilience.

Solution

Through a collaborative research project, the Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC) and Stuff4Life identified an opportunity to contribute towards the circular economy with workwear and PPE used within industry.

By utilising a chemical recycling process (alkaline hydrolysis) on polyester (PET), Stuff4Life and the NZIIC have been able to recover terephthalic acid (TPA), a monomer which can be used again for the synthesis of polyester (PET).

Impact

Stuff4Life secured seed funding from the UK’s leading safety products and services company, Acro, which will support the further research and development of a closed-loop circular economy solution for polyester workwear.

Teesside University will continue to work with Stuff4Life on a chemical recycling demonstration plant, to provide the company with access to academic experts, world-leading research capabilities and state-of-the-art facilities.

The NZIIC run by Teesside University and funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)*, aims to support Tees Valley SMEs to develop net zero capabilities and opportunities.

This project is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.