IDELAM is a Franco-Swiss company developing innovative processes for recycling and waste treatment. The IDELAM technology aims to promote the recycling of complex non-recyclable solid products by separating the different materials of which they are composed. In a chat with Fibre2Fashion, IDELAM Director Eric Durivault speaks about recycling, delamination and the company’s growth.
Within the concept of ‘sustainability’, recycling is fast gaining momentum. What is the reason?
Behind sustainability is the idea of a close loop for products. It means materials used in products need to find a way back into production or re-use for same or different products. But recycling is often more difficult to handle in industry, due to the variability of the waste deposit. Thus, the recycling of products is becoming a more and more important issue for all industrial fields which are urging for solutions.
Given that recycling textile waste too consumes energy, what are the benefits of textile recycling?
Textile recycling benefits are numerous. Usually, recycling components in order to reuse them in a process is still more expensive than virgin material. But it is way more sustainable as it drastically reduces the carbon impact of the product. It is also important to compare not only the energy consumption but the pollution impact. In that case, recycling is often way more beneficial than incineration or landfill.
While recycling textiles made of single fibre is easy, recycling clothing that has blended fibres and yarns is difficult, and even not always possible. What is your opinion?
Multi-material products have always been a complex issue for recycling. For the past decades, recycling was most of the time associated with grinding processes. But grinding mixed materials make the problem worse in terms of sorting components. That is why we are seeing more and more innovative recycling technologies using chemistry, physics or biology as alternatives for these issues. It is also a good way to raise awareness for eco-conception among producers and tend towards mono-material products.
What kind of textile and fashion products does IDELAM recycle?
IDELAM focuses mainly on recycling glued materials. We initially addressed the question of shoes recycling, as most of the components are glued together and stitched. Very few materials are recycled in shoes, as they are impossible to separate from each other. We are now addressing the question of fibre recycling for particular inducted textiles by extracting the resin and cleaning the fibre which would be reusable afterwards.
What is your business model? Do you recycle and give products back to the same clients?
IDELAM intends to sell processes and recycling solutions, but we currently do not intend to recycle products by ourselves. We, however, intend to identify recycling solutions for the delaminated materials after our process.
What is the growth story of IDELAM?
IDELAM began with three people and a first proof of concept year where we tested many different products on the process. From food packaging, drug’s blisters, shoes, skis, solar panels… More than hundred tests, some more successful than others. We wanted to test the possibilities of the process and choose the best results to then look for industrial partners and discuss with producers. We began our first project on shoes recycling, then were labelled as Solar Impulse Innovative Solution in 2021 which was a great acknowledgment of our technology. From a fashion point of view, Fashion for Good (FFG) and Refashion have also been a very good display for our communication.
The word ‘delamination’ is mentioned several times on your website. Can you explain this term? How is it related to recycling?
‘Delamination’ is the separation of different layers of materials attached to each other, as opposed to ‘laminated materials’ from an industrial process point of view. Straight forward, by delamination we mean clean separation. It is related to recycling as an intermediate step for complex multi-materials to separate the different components in order to enable their full recycling separately.
How big is the R&D team at IDELAM? What are they currently working on?
IDELAM’s team is composed of three people—Eric Durivault, founder and director of IDELAM; Thomas Voisin, project manager in charge of the R&D; and Cyril Aymonier, head director of the ICMCB laboratory as a scientific advisor for IDELAM. IDELAM recently recruited a young engineer, Jeanne Amargier, to increase the R&D potential of the company. The main work of the R&D team is currently to perform delamination tests for partners, as well as new innovative processes for other fields of recycling.
IDELAM was pre-selected as part of the 20 most innovative solutions of 2021 for the Fashion for Good Accelerator Programme. Can you tell us more about the same?
Indeed, we were approached by FFG in 2020 to participate in the 2021 accelerator programme but did not make it to the end of the selection. However, FFG contacted us again for this year selection and this time was the right one. We are now interacting weekly with the FFG team in order to connect with their network and fashion partners who might be interested in our technology.
IDELAM is also supported in its development by the eco-organisation Refashion. Please tell us more about this.
In 2020, the French Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine funded our Rechauss project regarding delamination of shoes. Soon after, the eco-organisation Refashion decided to participate in the funding of this project as well. It was a great boost to have access to producer contacts as well as shoes deposit information to understand this field of recycling.
What is the next plan at IDELAM? Any growth targets?
IDELAM plans to end its seed funding round in the coming months and prepare its Round A funding by the end of 2022 in order to begin several other projects on different recycling topics. We have plenty of ideas to develop, but we want to go step-by-step to not lose track of our goals.
Published on: 02/05/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
