Akhtarul Islam Amjad

The global textile industry generates waste at multiple stages, including fiber production, fabric manufacturing, chemical processing, garment production, finishing, and post-consumption. This study examines approaches for effective textile waste management and maps them across stages of activity. It includes two components: a bibliometric trend analysis and a review of developments, practices, and strategies in textile waste management and valorization. The review identifies 2749 research articles and 988 distinct keywords, highlighting themes such as recycling, value-added products, circular economy, and sustainability. The study maps in-process, after-process, and post-consumer waste within the supply chain or redirects it into value-added products within a circular economy framework. In some cases, textile waste is reused in production through reduction, reuse, and repurposing without recycling. Recent research focuses on converting natural and synthetic textile waste such as fibers, yarns, fabrics, trims, and dyes into outputs including recycled fibers and fabrics, nonwovens, lactic acid, glucose, ethanol, biogas, char, and compost. Mechanical recycling is gaining importance for post-industrial waste. When reuse or mechanical recycling is not feasible, chemical and biological treatments are applied. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning support efficient sorting, waste prediction, and recycling processes.

The global textile industry generates waste at multiple stages, including fiber production, fabric manufacturing, chemical processing, garment production, finishing, and post-consumption. This study examines approaches for effective textile waste management and maps them across stages of activity. It includes two components: a bibliometric trend analysis and a review of developments, practices, and strategies in textile waste management and valorization. The review identifies 2,693 research articles and 988 distinct keywords, highlighting themes such as recycling, value-added products, circular economy, and sustainability. The study maps in-process, after-process, and post-consumer waste within the supply chain or redirects it into value-added products within a circular economy framework. In some cases, textile waste is reused in production through reduction, reuse, and repurposing without recycling. Recent research focuses on converting natural and synthetic textile waste such as fibers, yarns, fabrics, trims, and dyes into outputs including recycled fibers and fabrics, nonwovens, lactic acid, glucose, ethanol, biogas, char, and compost. Mechanical recycling is gaining importance for post-industrial waste. When reuse or mechanical recycling is not feasible, chemical and biological treatments are applied. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning support efficient sorting, waste prediction, and recycling processes.

Purpose: The purpose of this review paper is to thoroughly assess and analyze the progression of technology and research in textile material and machine manufacturing over the past ten years. The primary focus is on understanding how advancements in technology, including mechatronics, smart technology, digitization, and artificial intelligence, contribute to enhancing stakeholders’ experiences.Design/methodology/approach: This review paper is designed to comprehensively explore the technological advancements within the textile industry. The information is gathered from diverse sources such as academic research, industrial research, machine manufacturers, and textile manufacturers. The methodology involves an in-depth examination of both the transformative impact of digitization and the integration of commercially viable technologies, emphasizing their adoption and adaptation to enhance manufacturing processes and competitiveness.Findings: Significant progress has been achieved through technical advancements, research, digitization, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the fields of fiber manufacturing, spinning, weaving, knitting, textile machinery, dyeing, and monitoring in the past decade. Advanced technologies such as blockchain, soft computing, and AI technologies have brought a new era of textile manufacturing through enhanced efficiency, optimized processes, improved product quality, and reduced resource consumption throughout the textile production life-cycle. The labor-intensive industry is shifting towards the digital automatic industry which is providing a lot of opportunities and challenges.Originality/value: The review explores recent textile technological advancements, emphasizing digitization and AI’s transformative role in processes and product quality enhancement. It uniquely integrates academic and industrial research, highlighting the industry’s shift towards digital automation and its impact on efficiency and sustainability.