CETIA is a French company that has invented a machine to recycle clothes. It hopes to reduce waste caused by the fashion industry.

The machine uses artificial intelligence to scan garments and identify hard elements like zips and buttons that can be cut off using a laser.

Without this technology, most clothes are tough to recycle because they are made of materials that must be separated carefully before they are turned into new garments. Most textiles in Europe end up as housing insulation, padding or asphalt for paving roads. CETIA said its AI-laser machine could separate the materials more quickly than doing it by hand – it can sort one piece of clothing in one second.

“As long as we do not have systems to prepare materials for recycling, we will not have a recycling sector in France,” said Veronique Allaire-Spitzer, who helps with waste management.