Scarabat

Scarabat is a collaborative innovation initiative driven by ARPE and Girbau LAB, with the support of the Tèxtils.cat cluster and inèdit, and backed by ACCIÓ. The project builds upon and consolidates previous initiatives from Girbau LAB in collaboration with Elisava: FIX and Clint.

Scarabat aims to reuse microresidues collected from industrial washing and drying processes, transforming them into new resources with added value. The goal is to promote a circular model for textile microresidues and foster their revalorization into new materials for new products.

In the first phase of the project, the Open Lab conducted tests to measure the release of microplastics over 25 washing and drying cycles on ARPE textile pieces. These tests provided concrete data on the generation of microresidues during the use phase of textile products.

“The results show that the first wash is critical, accounting for 35% of the total microplastics released over the 25 cycles.”

For more information, read the Scarabat article: textile microresidues transformed into new products.