https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/17aae72b-bb04-4646-9c94-90faa6f98357 Title: UNRAVEL-Unlocking New Resources And Value from End-of-Life textiles Description: This year our TU Darmstadt iGEM team decided to try to tackle the textile waste problem. The fashion industry generates 6,900,000 tons of waste every year in the EU alone. Blended fabrics remain especially difficult to recycle using conventional methods, which is why our team aims to UNRAVEL the potential of thermophilic bacteria for the degradation of mixed textile waste. We have investigated five different enzymes for degrading PET and nylon and attempted to make them more thermostable through engineering to reach higher conversion rates. Integrating these into an organism that can already degrade cotton would enable the degradation of mixed textiles without the need to laboriously separate the various materials found in common textiles. This led us on a journey discovering how to handle thermophilic, anaerobic organisms as potential chassis, building our own equipment and modelling biological systems. With our research we work towards turning the waste of today into the resource of tomorrow. Wiki | Official Page Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:24:30 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.igem.org https://video.igem.org/client/assets/images/icons/icon-1500x1500.png https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/17aae72b-bb04-4646-9c94-90faa6f98357 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.igem.org/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.