Transforming textile waste through synthetic biology

It is always inspiring to see what young scientists can achieve when given the opportunity to tackle real-world challenges. This year, we supported a student team Trashformers from Lund University as they were participating in the iGEM competition. Their project’s goal was to tackle the critical issue of textile waste, specifically focusing on recycling polyester.

Trashformers team at work
Trashformers team at work
Polyester has grown to be the most important synthetic fiber in the world by being durable, low cost and wrinkle resistant. However, textile waste has become an alarming problem. In 2020, there were 7 million tons of textile waste from polyester alone in the EU. Most of it, 87%, ends up being incinerated or landfilled, generally in African and South American countries. Textile waste is also associated with health hazards, as it is recognized as the 4th largest unintentional polluter of microplastics in Europe and often contains many hazardous chemical additives during production.

The student team at Lund University decided to address the growing problem of polyester in textile waste by focusing both on its degradation and on the subsequent use of the degradation products.

Their aim is to step in before the polyester fibers are incinerated by using enzymatic glycolysis for degradation. Enzymatic glycolysis of polyester is a depolymerization method that is very similar to hydrolysis. The benefit of glycolysis over hydrolysis is the production of bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) instead of mono(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (MHET). This eliminates the polymerization of MHET to BHET in the polyester synthesis pathway of recycling. The team assessed different enzymes used in polyester hydrolysis for their effectiveness in polyester glycolysis.

To address challenges related to ethylene glycol use and the energy demands of chemical processing, the team developed an integrated upcycling strategy. The upcycling part of the project activates the monomer TPA (terephthalic acid), a key polyester breakdown product with coenzyme A. TPA, along with ethylene glycol, are recovered as monomeric building blocks from polyester hydrolysis. Utilizing hydrolysis will yield both of the needed monomers through biological processing, eliminating the need for purchasing ethylene glycol.

Their goal is to engineer an enzyme capable of activating TPA for subsequent repolymerization. Since this process relies on biocatalysts rather than conventional chemical catalysts, it has the potential to offer a more cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable route to bioplastic production.

To support the Trashformers team in their enzyme development and molecular biology work, we provided the following reagents:
The team presented their work at the iGEM Grand Jamboree, held at the end of October in Paris. iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing synthetic biology through education, collaboration, and innovation. Each year, it brings together teams from over 45 countries to present synthetic biology solutions to global challenges.

At the Grand Jamboree, the Trashformers team achieved an outstanding result, earning a gold medal and receiving two nominations: Best Fashion & Cosmetics Project and Best Sustainable Development Impact Project. This was the best result in Lund University’s history and the best in Sweden in 2025. We are very proud of their achievement.

In addition to competing in the Grand Jamboree, the members of the team put a lot of effort into educating people on this matter by doing workshops for schools and posting informative content on social media. You can find out more about their project here: https://2025.igem.wiki/lund/.