Seiko Epson taps paper recycle tech to recover fibers from clothing

TOKYO -- Japanese electronics company Seiko Epson plans to launch a business that recycles clothing based on its paper recycling technology as early as 2025, when a European Union ban on the disposal of unsold clothing goes into effect, Nikkei has learned.

Conventional recycling methods cut clothes with a rotating blade to extract fibers and requires a large amount of fresh cotton material to maintain strength, achieving a fiber recovery rate of only about 10%. Seiko Epson's method is said to recover more than 50% of fibers, and the company aims to eventually reach 100%.