At Fulton Hogan, we’re constantly seeking out opportunities to reduce our carbon emissions and minimise our impact on the environment in which we work and live.
That’s why we’re proud to be the first construction company to partner with Australian start-up BlockTexx, a circular economy enterprise currently building Australia’s first textile resource recovery facility on the south side of Brisbane.
Faced with an excess of shirts from a joint venture project that couldn’t be re-used elsewhere and deemed unsuitable for charity, our Northern Region Construction team initiated discussions with the BlockTexx founders to identify opportunities for the end of life work shirts.
Textile waste is a growing issue in Australia, with a majority of old clothing ending up in landfill where it can take hundreds of years to break down, releasing harmful carbon emissions along the way.
The BlockTexx recycling facility will divert thousands of tonnes of unwanted textiles away from landfill each year, converting the fabrics into high value raw materials for reuse while saving about 30kg of CO2e for every 1kg of material recycled.
While still in its infancy, appoximately 100kg of excess work shirts have been delivered so far to the BlockTexx facility as initial textile feedstock to help with early quality control process checks, and for labratory testing and analysis.
Once operational, the textile recovery facility will put the fabric through a chemical separation process called S.O.F.T. (separation of fibre technology), which separates and reclaims up to 98% of resources from the cotton and polyester garments. Blockchain technology will also be incorporated in the process to track the materials, giving 100% visibility to the recycling process right through to the end source, and total surety to the team when claiming carbon credits, knowing the materials have not been diverted to landfill, burnt or exported elsewhere for disposal.
Opportunities also now exist for the extracted raw materials of cellulose and pelletised polyester to be incorporated back into the construction activities through our business operations.
