Sustainable development in the textile industry | The MUTREC case

At the First Québec Conference of the Circular Economy, Marianne-C. Mercier, Head of Research and Development at Vestechpro, participated in the panel dedicated to the textile sector via the MUTREC group.

The MUTREC group was mentioned at the First Québec Conference on the Circular Economy, held on December 5, 2018 at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal, concerning one of the projects dedicated to the development of residual textiles in Quebec.

It was during the session entitled "Deploying the circular economy at the level of the sectors" that the project for outlets for the ill-fated from ICI (industrial-commercial-institutional) was presented by Claude Maheux-Picard, Director General Conference of the Industrial Technology Transfer Center (CTTÉI). Ms. Maheux-Picard represented the MUTEC group through this project dedicated to the textile sector.

What does MUTREC mean?

MUTREC stands for * "Enhancement of Residual Textiles from a Circular Economy Perspective" * (the "U" replaced the "V" for better reading), is the grouping of experts and organizations that combine their know-how and their creativity to support the deployment of the circular economy in the textile industry in Quebec.

Who is the team behind MUTREC? 

Launched in 2016 through the facilitation of CIRODD and the EDDEC institute, this grouping was created following the concerns of many stakeholders in the sector facing the future of the textile industry. MUTREC is today composed of the following organizations :
- ETHIK Eco-Design Hub
- RECYC-QUEBEC
- Retail Council of Canada (CCCD)
- University of Montreal (UdeM)
- Polytechnic
- Center for Technology Transfer in Industrial Ecology (CTTEI)
- Vestechpro

This first project dedicated to the development of residual textiles in Quebec is led by the Marianne-C research team. Mercier of Vestechpro, Claudia Vezeau, Julien Beaulieu of CTTÉI and Denyse Roy of UdeM as well as industrial partners: - Lacasse Group
- Ablasq
- Genfoot
- Certex
- Renaissance

The objective of this project is to find outlets for residual textiles, in particular in 3 categories: bedding at the end of life, cuttings and uniforms.

What are the stages of this residual textile development project?

For six months, several research activities, such as the exploration of residues or the mapping of existing technologies on the territory, visits as well as co-creation workshops that were conducted in order to identify marketable products. As of January 2019, there are several viable tracks that will be developed to have first products to test in the summer of 2019.

What is the implication of Vestechpro?

It is with the arrival of Marianne within Vestechpro that the circular economy dimension has gained momentum in product, project and project development projects. applied research with Center clients. Indeed, the clothing industry is linked to the textile industry, remains the second most polluting industry in the world. It is therefore not important, but essential, to support companies in this process, to familiarize them with the concept, to offer concrete and accessible solutions and to support them in this positive and lasting change.

Reminder: how to define circular economy? 

A set of strategies to optimize the resources already in circulation. For example: industrial symbiosis (grouped under the Quebec synergies banner) new business models such as the economy of features and sharing, and revisited models of repair and alterations in addition to reuse, redesign and recycling (defibration, dissolution, depolymerization, energy recovery).