With a history of responsible business stretching back 118 years, Sanko Textile is a cornerstone of Istanbul-headquartered Sanko Holding, one of Turkey’s strongest and best-known family enterprises.

Sanko Textile’s operations span cotton and synthetic yarn production, weaving and knitting and home textiles. In 2023, it introduced a new recycling technology venture, RE&UP, to specialise in textile-to-textile recycling, turning cotton, polyester and poly-cotton fabrics into high quality, traceable raw materials ready for re-spinning.

RE&UP’s collaboration with Andritz started in 2021, when Sanko ordered a mechanical recycling line – and subsequently a further nine in 2022. At over €14 million, this is the biggest single-order project in the history of the Andritz textile division in Turkey. Five lines are already in operation under the contract, with five more scheduled for delivery in 2024.

RE&UP’s goal is to enable a seamless closed-loop ecosystem for end-of-life textile waste and through its feedstock-agnostic process – which is capable of processing the majority of production and post-consumer waste – it offers valuable recycled textile raw materials for the whole industry at scale. The company is already providing this as an end-to-end and scalable solution and has set a target of recycling more than one million tons of textile waste by 2030.

“RE&UP leverages the vast knowledge of our parent company Sanko in spinning recycled fibres, which requires specialised fibre and yarn engineering expertise,” says general manager Andreas Dorner. “What we can do in-house with this expertise, we will do in-house. However, to truly push boundaries, it is essential that we collaborate with companies that also have expertise in their areas of specialisation. Andritz has expertise in the sustainable industrialisation of textile recycling technology and has demonstrated great results. We knew that by joining forces we could be an instrument for great change in the industry.”

With this project, the challenge was to ensure that the machine technology required was completely fit for purpose, and that the set-up process was as smooth as possible. Andritz provided significant support and guidance during this phase. Having successfully established the first plant in Turkey, future RE&UP hubs to recycle post-consumer goods will be established in Europe, Asia and America.

“We are working with Andritz technology to tackle this challenge together,” says Dorner. “We provide a solution that not only reduces environmental impact by diverting waste from landfill and incineration, but also puts it back into production. As we continue to establish more bases for RE&UP around the world, we will rely on Andritz for further support to ensure we can deliver on the needs of our customers globally.”

www.andritz.com