Soil biodegradation of virgin and recycled cotton and PET based fabrics: physicochemical and biological assessment.

With increasing waste generation and environmental concerns in textiles, biodegradability is considered one of the most important waste management strategies. The biodegradability behavior of textile products made from virgin materials has been extensively studied. Although it is known that recycled textile products provide significant environmental benefits, whether these materials have created a change in terms of biodegradability is still a subject of interest. Biodegradation of woven fabrics made of virgin cotton (CO)/recycled cotton (r-CO) fibers, recycled polyester (r-PET)/r-CO fiber blends, 100% r-PET fibers and their virgin counterparts, (100% CO and 100% virgin polyester (PET)) fibers were investigated in soil for 1-, 4- and 7- month soil burial periods. Biodegradability properties were determined by weight loss analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and microorganism and organic carbon analyses. According to the results of the study, fabrics made from 100% CO and CO/r-CO fibers exhibited degradation rate of 93-95% after 1 month and complete degradation after 4 months. While biodegradation occurred depending on the r-CO ratio in the structure for fabrics produced from r-PET/r-CO fibers, no degradation was observed for 100% PET and 100% r-PET fabrics after 1, 4, and 7 months. It was concluded that recycled fibers in the structure exhibited similar degradation behavior to their virgin counterparts. Furthermore, SEM and FTIR analyses confirmed the weight loss results. The results of total bacteria, yeast-mold, and organic carbon analyses showed different trends depending on the soil burial periods and biodegradability of the samples.