Abstract Textile waste represents a major global challenge due to its substantial contribution to environmental pollution. This study investigated an innovative method for valorising textile waste into cellulase, recycled fibres, and reducing sugars. Various compositions of textile waste, including 100% cotton, 60% cotton blended with 40% Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and 100% PET, were evaluated for their suitability as substrates in submerged and solid-state fermentation processes aimed at cellulase production using Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei . The results revealed that maximum cellulase production of 4.75 ± 0.11 U/mL by A. niger and 2.41 ± 0.06 U/mL by T. reesei was achieved using submerged and solid-state fermentation, respectively. After fermentation, waste fabric was used as substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis into short cotton and PET fibres for recycling purposes. The hydrolysate was analysed for separation and recyclable fibres yield. Cellulase from T. reesei (TCEL) demonstrated superior performance compared to cellulase form A. niger (ACEL) and commercial cellulase (PAKCEL) by achieving the highest separation yield of 87.0% and a recyclable fibres yield of 68.6%. This comprehensive and novel approach aims to replace today’s linear ‘take-make-dispose’ approach with circular processes, which in turns enable a closed-loop, sustainable textile management. Graphical abstract
Etuk et al. (2026) studied this question.