Israeli startup Axiv materials, founded in 2023 by Elinor Josef and Ophir Marom is on a mission to revolutionize the textile industry into a fully sustainable and circular economy. It recycles protein waste and transforms it into high-quality biodegradable textile fibers. These new fibers can be fully recycled at the end of their use. In this way, Axiv Materials has found a way to develop a new type of biodegradable fiber produced from protein waste.
The company's proprietary technology extracts high-quality proteins from waste streams and recycles them into sustainable, biodegradable, and high-quality textile fibers. These fibers can then be used to produce clothing, home textiles, and automotive interiors.
The textile industry is one of the three most polluting industries in the world, with 92 million tonnes of textiles thrown away each year. 70% of these textiles are made of plastics, which do not biodegrade and accumulate in the environment. Innovation in textiles is essential to achieve the ambitious climate targets set by governments, organisations and companies.
About 2.6% of the world's exported goods are textiles/clothing. The textile industry is therefore among the twenty most important export industries in the world. For the countries of the South in general, the textile industry is, along with agriculture, one of the most important export industries.
The clothing industry is labor-intensive: worldwide, it employs about 30 million people and millions of human beings depend indirectly on its income. If we consider the entire textile industry and the footwear industry, this sector employs about 60 million people worldwide.
Caroline Haïat
Коментарі