Tuesday, February 18, 2025
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Ten years ago, A Coruña native Juan Mejide Fernández launched an initiative to transform textile recycling into an inclusive environment for all workers
Juan Meijide Fernández is the general manager of Insertega (Iniciativa Social Emprendedora de Reciclaje Textil de Galicia), founded more than a decade ago in A Coruña with the purpose of transforming the textile recycling sector. Under his leadership, the company has implemented innovative solutions within the circular economy, turning textile waste into raw materials for diverse sectors such as yarn manufacturing, insulation, furniture, and commercial equipment. Its main objective is to promote social responsibility and sustainability by applying the three 'R's: reduce the consumption of natural resources, reuse garments in good condition, and recycle them to minimize their environmental impact.
What inspired you to start this project ten years ago?
Insertega started as a business venture between two friends. We wanted to create a project that would do good in society, and ultimately, we had to decide whether to turn our project into a business with industrial aspects. Today, we have turned it into a European leader in textile recycling.
How has your vision of the textile recycling sector and the circular economy evolved since then?
The truth is that, over the last five years, it's evolved quite a bit. We have gone from textile reusers to recyclers. In other words, we now transform textiles that can be reused into a raw material for new industries.
What positive changes have you seen in citizen and business perception of the circular economy and textile recycling?
At the citizen level, as consumers, we have noticed an increased awareness of sustainability and recycling. At the business level, this change has also been driven by European legislation. In any case, we have been able to evolve from very low recycling rates to very high ones.
What is the process for selecting and treating the garments that you receive?
We specialize in managing non-reusable parts of textile waste. Our process involves running the material through a line of scanners we have implemented. We have three different types of scanners, which use three different technologies, in which we are able to classify textile waste by composition and color. This is essential for the future development of the projects that will use this raw material.
What percentage do you manage to reuse or recycle? How have you tackled technological challenges to turn these materials into new raw materials?
Our recovery rate is currently around 90%. This is possible precisely because we have made a big investment with our partners and suppliers. In the end, we’ve been able to achieve this rate thanks to different collaborators who work together to develop the necessary technologies for creating new products and materials made from textile waste, including flooring, coatings, paints...
These projects are a clear example of the circular economy. Which one do think is the most innovative?
We work on countless circular projects, mainly for companies. We use the client's textile waste to create new products that they want to sell or use in their own facilities. For example, these projects include furniture for their stores or offices, paints, wall coatings or floors. There are countless projects in which the objective is to reduce the carbon footprint emitted by the customer or the waste producer.
What strategies does Insertega implement to promote more responsible consumption?
One of our main actions to reduce water consumption is classifying waste by composition and by color, as mentioned above. In this case, by being able to classify that waste by color in the spinning processes, we are saving the work of dyeing that raw material later. Thus, we manage to avoid this process, because the product is already classified by color. We have pre-dyed raw material.
What types of companies are most interested in collaborating on Insertega's circular projects?
Initially, the companies that were most interested in these circular projects were large corporations. However, the trend in recent years is that smaller companies, which are perhaps more aware of sustainability, are getting more involved, within their capabilities. Now, we have local companies that are starting to do their circular projects, some even with packaging or recycled uniforms.
The EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles aims to promote a more responsible model throughout the textile sector's value chain. How does Insertega view the role of public/private collaboration in implementing this strategy?
The entire textile recycling industry needs major investments in technological development and managing large volumes of waste. Therefore, we need the Administration’s support to help us find new technologies, new processes in which we are able to identify textile waste by composition, by color, as we do at Insertega, and then search for these new solutions. We also need legislation that supports us at the regional, state, and European levels to pursue this development. On the other hand, as citizens, we produce textile waste and it is the Administration's responsibility to find a solution to these waste products that we produce. In this case, they need companies like us to develop solutions.
In addition to environmental sustainability, Insertega is committed to having a positive social impact. How have you incorporated values of inclusion and equity into your business model, particularly in the labor insertion of people with disabilities?
We truly started as a social project and we continue to be a social project. We have not lost our essence. One hundred percent of our company's workers have different abilities. In other words, we continue to maintain that DNA, which is still compatible with managing an economically sustainable business. For us, integrating this labor model is essential and, in fact, we are already doing so in the new plants and projects that we are carrying out both nationally and in Europe.
What global opportunities are essential for fostering a more sustainable and circular textile industry?
I believe we’re in an exceptional time for the creation of the textile scrap, in which large national fashion producers are coming together to find a solution to this waste that we produce. All of the members of the value chain are part of this process, from recyclers, reclaimers, transporters, and collectors to spinners and weavers. In the fashion world, I believe that this integration is essential in order to find global solutions to this problem of ours, because in the end, it's a problem that we all contribute to, as citizens and as an industry.
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