From Waste to Value: Advances in Recycling Textile-Based PET Fabrics

The environmental burden of textile waste has become a critical challenge for sustainable development. This review explores recent developments in the recycling of textiles, especially polyethylene tereph-2 thalate (PET)-based fabrics, with a focus on fiber-to-fiber regeneration as a pathway toward circular textile production. Recent developments in PET recycling, such as mechanical and chemical recycling methods, are critically examined, highlighting the potential of chemical depolymerization for recovering high-purity monomers suitable for textile-grade PET synthesis. Special attention is given to electrospinning as an emerging technology for converting recycled PET into high-value nanofibers, offering functional properties suitable for advanced applications in filtration, medical textiles, and smart fabrics. The integration of these innovations, alongside improved sorting technologies and circular design strategies, is essential for overcoming current limitations and enabling scalable, high-quality recycling systems. This review aims to support the development of a more resource efficient textile industry by outlining key challenges, technologies, and future directions in PET recycling.