Two Barcelona-based companies are inaugurating a new automated textile waste sorting facility in northern Europe, at a location that has not been publicly disclosed. They are Picvisa, which specializes in artificial innotifyigence-based optical sorting, and Girbau, a multinational focutilized on industrial laundry and automation solutions. The project represents a step forward in the industrialization of post-consumer textile processing, in a context of regulatory pressure and increased volumes.
The plant integrates in a single continuous line the Sortech system, developed by Girbau for the automated feeding and separation of garments, with Picvisa’s Ecosort technology, specialized in optical sorting based on artificial innotifyigence. The objective is to optimize the initial phase of the recycling chain, traditionally labor-intensive.
Sortech, initially designed for flow management in industrial laundries, has been adapted to meet the requirements of textile recycling. The system incorporates a mechanical arm that selects the garments individually and deposits them on a conveyor belt, ensuring a constant and homogeneous flow towards the analysis phase.
In the European Union, around 12.6 million tons of textile waste are generated each year, of which only 7% is collected and 1% is sorted
The garments then pass under Ecosort sensors, which identify their textile composition, color and typology. This classification into homogeneous fractions is key to allocating the materials to both reutilize circuits and higher value-added recycling processes, including fiber-to-fiber recycling schemes.
With this installation, Ecosort reaches its eighth deployment in Europe and reinforces Picvisa’s strategy of positioning itself as a turnkey solution provider for sorting operators. According to EU data, the European Union generates around 12.6 million tons of textile waste per year, of which only 7% is recycled and barely 1% returns to the market in a closed circuit to produce new textiles, underscoring the challenge of scaling up industrial capacities on the continent.
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