PICVISA ECOSORT TEXTIL Automated Textile Sorting

PICVISA is a Barcelona-based company, with history dating from 2002, that designs, manufactures and supplies optical and robotic sorting equipment for waste recovery and recycling of glass, plastics, metals and textiles. It reports more than 400 installed machines in over 16 countries and is a certified B Corp. In textiles it tackles the lack of automated sorting that keeps most used garments and offcuts from fibre-to-fibre recycling.

ECOSORT TEXTIL combines NIR spectroscopy for composition, visible-light imaging for colour and deep learning for shape on 1000 mm belts, sorting by fibre, colour and garment type. Identified materials include cotton, cotton-polyester, polyester, wool, viscose, polyamide, acrylic, silk, acetate and PU. Separation uses side blowing or the ECOPICK robotic arm, and the line integrates with Girbau's Sortech automated feeding system. ECOCLIP removes hard items such as zippers. Customers are textile sorters, recyclers and waste operators.

• Multispectral vision: NIR for composition, visible imaging for colour and deep learning for shape.
• Fibre coverage: cotton, cotton-polyester, polyester, wool, viscose, polyamide, acrylic, silk, acetate and PU.
• Robotic separation: side blowing or the ECOPICK robotic arm separates textile categories.
• Automated feeding: integrates with Girbau's Sortech system to remove manual garment loading.
• Trim removal: ECOCLIP detects and removes hard items such as zippers and labels.
• Traceability and testing: material traceability across the line and an industrial-scale Test Center.

Recycling companies in Vietnamese industrial parks can build sorting lines for garment-factory offcuts by fibre and colour before mechanical or chemical recycling. Waste management firms handling municipal or post-consumer textiles can separate reusable garments from recycling grades. Textile groups can trial their waste streams at PICVISA's Test Center before investing.

Automated multispectral sorting replaces manual garment handling and labelling with traceable, specification-based output for recyclers. One reconfigurable line covers many fibre, colour and garment categories, for example 24 categories at up to two tonnes per hour in the line ordered by Esposito in Italy. Integration with robotic picking and automated feeding allows a fully automated line, and an in-house Test Center lets buyers trial their own material at industrial scale.

EU separate textile collection from 2025 and upcoming extended producer responsibility schemes are creating demand for industrial sorting capacity ahead of fibre-to-fibre recycling. Brands increasingly require recycled content from textile waste rather than bottles. Vietnam's large garment sector produces significant offcuts and is drawing recycling investments, which will need automated sorting by fibre and colour.

Headquartered in Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona, Spain, with history dating from 2002. Certified B Corp since January 2024; Luis Seguí named CEO in May 2024. Reports more than 400 machines installed in over 16 countries. Partners with Girbau on automated textile sorting plants and acquired REGULATOR-CETRISA for metal sorting. Textile clients and projects include Esposito (Italy), Lipor (Portugal) and Textile House (Slovakia).