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Publication Date

2024-5

First Advisor

Borjana Mikic

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Engineering

Keywords

machine design, circular economy, textile, enginerring design, shredder, recycling

Abstract

Although petroleum-derived polyester is the most common textile material in the world, items made from this material typically sit in landfills or are incinerated given its low value on the market. Furthermore, despite recent legislation banning the landfill disposal of textiles in Massachusetts, local solutions fail to address staggering textile waste. A lack of awareness and accountability regarding consumption habits must be addressed by increasing the waste management self-sufficiency of local, collaborative, and educational partnerships through recycling. Using local makerspaces as a use-case for circular waste streams, here the open-sourced design and development of a textile mechanical recycling shredder is discussed as a small-scale solution for these systems. With a recovering efficiency of 88% and throughput of 2.7 kg/hour, this adapted shredder proves the feasibility of small-scale mechanical textile recycling model as a concept for piloting. Makerspaces could easily manage their own textile waste streams through the addition of textile recycling capabilities to their existing suites. With further testing and development to optimize performance, mechanical shredders can enable the inception of closed-loop, self-sufficient, textile circular economies, conducted by makerspace stakeholders and supported by community partners in Western Massachusetts.

Rights

©2024 Bailey Butterworth. Access limited to the Smith College community and other researchers while on campus. Smith College community members also may access from off-campus using a Smith College log-in. Other off-campus researchers may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan for personal use.

Language

English

Comments

85 pages: color illustrations. Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-72).

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