Switzerland | Since the beginning of this year the staff members of the TEXAID sorting plant -in Schattdorf, Switzerland- are learning a completely new kind of dealing with the used clothes, home textiles and shoes: in a way they now communicate with the outfits. Using a headset, the sorting team classifies every single piece by material, quality and texture. The computer control then makes sure that the piece finds its way to the right storage container: an air blast sends it to a stillage or a large bag. The system is developed and supplied by Belgian baling specialist Valvan.
The collection organization invested almost four million Swiss Franks in the modernisation of the largest textile sorting plant in Switzerland. The investments in a highly technologised era shall pay off with a 50% sorting capacity increase, the company estimates. Through this the unit costs can be reduced, which 'makes us quite competitive with Eastern European companies that produce at considerably lower labour costs', as Martin Böschen, director of TEXAID, explains. This competitiveness in the global trade with used textiles will ensure the survival of the headquarters in Schattdorf in Uri canton. For TEXAID employs more than 80 people in sorting, logistics, provision and distribution.
Since the contents of the first collection bags were exploited in the sorting facility of TEXAID 26 years ago, the collection amount has constantly increased. Today, more than 20,000 tons of used clothes and shoes, nearly half of the total Swiss used clothes disposal, are yielded each year.
Acknowledgement
www.valvan.com
