Sustainable applications of textile waste fiber in the construction and geotechnical industries: A retrospect

Abstract

Textiles and apparel are amongst our primary necessities. The increasing environmental problems associated with the voluminous textile waste discarded in landfills have urged the textile and fashion industries to adopt and implement environmentally sustainable waste management and disposal strategies. The critical need for textile waste diversion from landfills instigated many researchers to seek novel and sustainable solutions for the circular textile economy by its value-addition and beneficial applications. In this review paper, a total of 49 studies were considered to formulate the application-based characterization of textile waste fibers comprehensively, to determine its appropriateness as a composite material in sustainable construction and geotechnical practices. This paper presents a plethora of innovative strategies for the cascaded use of textile fibrous waste by transforming it into non-hazardous secondary raw materials for potential environment-friendly and cleaner applications in the fields of building materials and geotechnical engineering. The findings of this study will help formulate experimentation techniques and methods to develop novel composite materials based on blended textile waste fibers and various other industrial by-products for specific applications.

Keywords

• Textile waste
• Sustainability
• Circular textile economy
• Waste valorization
• Construction material
• Soil reinforcement