Background The textile and clothing industry is an important part of the European manufacturing sector, accounting for 3% of total manufacturing added value in Europe. In many EU regions, it accounts for an even bigger share of manufacturing activity and is vitally important to economic and social well-being. The industry covers a large number of activities, including the transformation of fibres to yarns and fabrics, the treatment and dyeing of materials, and the production of a wide variety of products. The main environmental concern is the amount of water discharged and the chemical load it carries, including waste from the dyeing process, sludge, printing toners, used oils, grease and oil-impregnated rags and contaminated textile waste. The industry also presents risks of accidental leaks. Wet-laying technologies use a production process similar to papermaking. An aqueous suspension of fibre is filtered onto a moving surface before it is dried into a solid final product. These can be made with wood pulp or other natural fibres blended with synthetic fibres or fibreglass. Objectives The main objective of the WET-COMP project was to use wet-laid technology to exploit solid textile wastes, and some paper and wooden packaging wastes, to make non-woven textile structures suitable for use as reinforcements in the composites industry. The project proposed a global procedure that can be applied to the different sub-sectors of the textile and clothing industry. It aimed to demonstrate this by transforming waste products from the spinning and weaving/knitting sub-sectors into products for reinforcing polymer matrices. The project assessed the economic benefits, with the overall objective being to reduce waste disposal by 7.5% and to revalue at least 30% of the existing waste; thereby contributing to the implementation of Community legislation, in particular the Waste Framework Directive. Results The WET-COMP project demonstrated that wet-laid technology is a useful process in the manufacture of different types of non-woven materials from textile waste, through the revaluation of fibres as composites with technical applications (e.g. automobile parts). This also reduces the need to wash-off this type of waste, with resulting environmental benefits. Previous research and development projects had shown that wet-laid technology is useful for obtaining some non-woven materials from textile wastes, but the WET-COMP advanced this through a series of innovations: the project pioneered a global vision for the textile/composites sector concerning the possibilities for revalorising wastes using wet-laid technology, specified which wastes could be revalorised for particular technical applications, and outlined the likely economic and environmental benefits. The project also elaborated a common procedure for textile waste revalorisation using wet-laid technology. The first action of the project was to obtain information from companies generating the textile wastes of interest, which was important in terms of defining these types of waste. In some cases this was not easy, as companies were initially reluctant to divulge information regarding the type and quantity of wastes they generate. In comparison, logistics regarding wastes were relatively easy to perform, as textile factories are already paying for this type of environmental management. Once samples of waste were obtained, the demonstration stage started at the AITEX wet-laid pilot plant facilities. The next phase was the composites manufacturing process. This involved applying and optimising thermoforming (film stacking) and LFT-D (direct long-fibre thermoplastic) processes with six different types of non-woven material made using wet-laid technology. Textile wastes have very short fibre length, so wet-laid technology is the best way to process them to produce semi-finished products, which can be further processed, for example, by thermoforming or using them as cover layers for sandwich structures and composites. The mechanical properties of composites made from recycled fibres as a reinforcing component was found to be similar to those using only virgin fibre. Some problems needed to be overcome with the LFT-D technique in terms of its application to wet-laid non-woven materials, though considerable success was reported when making textile reinforcements using compression moulding, film stacking and thermoforming. Some of the prototypes obtained were shown to be competitive with existing conventional or commercial products. The project’s approach to revalorising textile wastes using wet-laid technology could be easily applied and replicated in all European countries. AITEX will continue to research waste revalorization using wet-laid technology, by considering waste from other sectors (e.g. agriculture, forestry, footwear industry). The project has contributed to the application of EU policies and Community legislation regarding wastes, in particular, the Waste Framework Directive. The environmental benefits generated by the WET-COMP technology include reductions in the amount of textile waste accumulation in landfills. Lower CO2 emissions result from the management of wastes from textile factories, for example, by recycling the material instead of burning it. The carbon footprint of textile industries was reduced by supplying wastes generating to third parties as raw material for the wet-laid manufacturing process. This could also lead to reductions in the use of raw materials in the manufacture of composite materials. Finally, the end-product obtained within the WET-COMP Initiative, a composite panel based on wet-laid non-woven reinforcements, is itself fully recyclable. The project is therefore promoting a new ecological industrial activity focused on sustainable non-woven textiles for composites manufacturing. Long-term economic benefits should arise from cost-savings for the textile companies and the composite industry, and energy savings through improved textile waste management. The technology also has potential for a range of other products, such as thermal and acoustic insulation. Positive effects in terms of employment can be expected. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).