tExtended Conversations Series: Lounais-Suomen Jätehuolto (LSJH) Oy

After the Spring break, we are today bringing you a new episode of our Conversations series, where we meet project partners and we discuss about their work in tExtended. This time we are bringing you our conversation with Anna Garton, Post-Consumer Textile Expert at LSJH, a municipal waste management company in Finland, who explained us why their presence in the project is so important for the realization of the tExtended solutions.

Thanks for speaking to us today. Could you start by introducing yourself and telling us where you are based?

I work for LSJH, based in Turku that is in the south-western corner of Finland. We are one of 29 municipal waste management companies that is required to separately collect and sort end-of-life textiles from households. LSJH receives the different pre-sorted materials from this nationwide network and sorts them by material content to combine the steams so that we can offer raw material feedstock to industry. My task is to find solutions and applications for all the different materials so that we enable textiles circularity on behalf of all the waste management companies.  

Can you tell us something about the task that you are specifically working on in tExtended?

We are involved in a number of work packages as we want to find new ecosystems, supply chains and solutions for our municipal collected end-of-life textile waste from households. I have personally been working particularly in WP1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 as we can contribute to understanding the big picture all the way down to specifications and practical trials. 

What do you like the most about working on this project?

It has connected me with many experts with valuable knowledge, experience and skills in the European textile industry. It has been interesting to learn about regional characteristics and industry strengths in different parts of Europe. Overall, it is great to work towards a common goal and learn from each other. 

What makes your organization ideal for participating in the research/activities of tExtended?

We are the only waste management company in the consortium and already have practical experience of textiles separate collection and material content-based sorting. LSJH has been involved in various projects since 2016, built a national partnership model and network to utilize end-of-life textiles as raw material. 

What do you see as the biggest challenge for tExtended?

With so much knowledge and experience in all the different work packages, pulling it together and finding the right key issues to work with both locally on an EU level. Also, each stepping outside their own interests and working environment to see the big picture. 

What is one key thing you have learned from working on tExtended so far?

We are in a continuously changing and evolving industry that has different characteristics and strengths in different parts of Europe. We need to build on our learnings to create a framework so that we can accelerate the circularity for textiles, which means a new mindset. 

How would you describe tExtended with three words only?

Collaboration, knowledge, solutions