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The Municipality of Famalicão is one of the Portuguese entities that has received European investment for projects in food and bioeconomy. TexMaTer: Retrieving novel Textile solutions from MArine and Terrestrial biomass is the name of the textiles initiative to be funded.
‘TexMater aims to produce new cellulosic fibres and bioformulations for textile finishes, using underused biomass resources and waste from agricultural practices and the production of micro- and macro-algae and post-consumer household textiles,’ explains the announcement from ANI – National Innovation Agency. These functional and sustainable solutions will then be applied in prototypes for fashion and home textiles markets.
The budget for the project, which starts in September and runs for four years, is €228,750.00. It involves a total of 17 partners, 9 of which are Portuguese, including the companies Confetil, Inovafil, JF Almeida, Mi Casa Es Tu Casa and the technology centre CITEVE.
It is announced that the municipality will play an active role in the project, particularly regarding the collecting and processing of post-consumer cellulose textiles. Textile waste is to be collected through 10 social shops distributed throughout the city.
‘It will explore different collection systems, promoting collecting campaigns to encourage the community to hand in their end-of-life home textiles at local social shops. (…) It will implement systems to support sorting by points and reward mechanisms that could include discounts and/or free access to the municipality’s services,’ says a source from ANI.
As for the companies, Confetil is involved in eco-design processes for fashion, the production of textile demonstrators for the fashion segment; Inovafil is involved in the production of textile yarns; JF Almeida is involved in the production of home textile demonstrators; and Mi Casa Es Tu Casa is participating in the study of consumer behaviour, eco-design for home textile production, new business models for the collecting, reusing and recycling of home textiles.
Portuguese entities also include Heiq Iberia, to produce staple fibres by wet-spinning; BBA – National Association for Marine Bioresources and Blue Biotechnology, for communication and dissemination activities; and A4F ALGAFUEL for the production of microalgae and extraction of bioactive compounds.