MIBAS excursion to the sorting & recycling plant of SOEX

26. Juni 2017

On June 26th, Prof. Dr. Timo Busch and students from his master course Industrial Ecology set out for a two-day excursion to the sorting and recycling plant of the SOEX GROUP, located in Wolfen close to Leipzig.

With approximately 700 employees and top-of-the-range process management, the site is one of the world's most modern production facilities for textile recycling, enabling up to 400 tonnes of used textiles to be handled every day.

The trip started with a guided tour through the production facility to gain insights on the entire value chain of used textiles collection, marketing, recycling and reuse. Parts of the goods that can no longer be worn are processed into cleaning cloths, insulation material or products for the automotive industry. In this way, approximately 11,000 tonnes of used textiles are transformed into new products every year. Even dust waste generated in the manufacture of insulation materials is pressed into dust briquettes which are used in the paper industry.

In addition to the guided tour, the students had on both days the opportunity to present potential solutions through case studies regarding the firm’s recent circularity challenges and future business development.

We want to thank SOEX and the participants for all their great insights!