Here, 30,000 garments are to be scanned by AI

70,000 tons of clothes are thrown away every year in Sweden.

In 2025, new laws will be introduced within the EU which state that they must be recycled instead.

For it to work, the clothing sorting chain must become smarter, according to Susanne Eriksson, project manager at Wargön Innovation. 

- In many places, they work in the same way as they did in the 1920s - it is only manual sorting. 

Learning for two years 

Wargön Innovation in Vänersborg is the only research facility of its kind in the Nordics where various technologies are tested to enable large-scale recycling and extended life of clothing.

The latest is AI.

Within two years, 30,000 garments will have been scanned in and a first database of secondhand garments has thus been established.

- It will be open so that any actor can use it to make their own tools from it, because we want as many people as possible to be able to use AI, says Susanne Eriksson.