Custom textile collection chain registration
Since extended producer responsibility for textiles was introduced, producers, municipalities and regulators want to know what happens to collected textiles. Those figures sit with the collectors and sorters, and are often buried in weighing tickets, trip lists and spreadsheets. Appfront builds software for registering the textile collection chain: from collection point via trip and sorting to destination, with every batch traceable and accountable.
What is software for registering the textile collection chain?
Since 1 July 2023, the Dutch Decree on extended producer responsibility for textiles has been in force. Producers of clothing and household textiles are therefore responsible for what happens to their products once they are discarded. In practice, they depend on the chain behind them: collectors, sorters, recyclers and processors. Registering that chain shows how much textile arrives per collection point, where it is sorted and where each fraction goes.
At many collectors and sorters, that information is scattered. The driver has a trip list, the weighbridge has its own system, the sorting hall keeps a spreadsheet per day, and the sale of batches sits in the accounting system. When a municipality or a producer organisation asks for figures per municipality or per fraction, they are pieced together by hand, and it is hard to show that the numbers add up.
We build custom software because every organisation in the chain does a different part. A second-hand business with shops and containers has different needs from a sorter receiving batches from dozens of collectors. Which collection points, which fractions, which buyers and which reports you need determines how the software works.
Per batch
From container to destination.
Sorting included
Fractions and percentages.
Chain evidence
For municipalities and producers.
How we build your software for registering the textile collection chain
We start with your part of the chain: where you collect or from whom you receive, how weighing and sorting are done, where the fractions go, and who wants to see which figures. Then we build a first version with collection points, trips and weights, because that is where the chain begins. You use it for a while for part of your area or your streams. Sorting, destinations, buyers and reports follow once that works well. After that, we maintain the software as your contracts or the rules change.
Points, streams and buyers.
The first version.
Fractions and destination.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What software for registering the textile collection chain actually does
The components below feature in almost every textile chain registration. Which ones you need depends on your role in the chain.
Collection points
Containers, shops, collection drives.
Trips
Weight per point and trip.
Receipt
Batches at the sorter.
Grading
Fractions per batch.
Destination
Buyer and application.
Reporting
Per municipality and period.
Who we build software for registering the textile collection chain for
The software is intended for organisations that collect or sort textiles and need to show what happens to them. The more collection points, streams and buyers, the greater the benefit.
Collectors
Containers and collection routes.
Nutrient cycle
Shops and intake.
Sorters
Batches from multiple sources.
Municipalities
Collection contract and figures.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we make your idea tangible in a single day for €1,150, so you know whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we deduct the cost in full.
View OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page covers the collection and sorting side of the textile chain. For the producer who has to report, see our page on the EPR textiles reporting tool; for collection in general, our page on apps for waste collection and recycling; and for the trips, our page on the container planning app. You can read about our approach at building custom software.
Why Appfront for your textile collection chain tracking software?
Figures that can't be traced, a batch nobody knows the whereabouts of, or a report that has to be put together by hand every time make a collector or sorter a weaker partner for municipalities and producers. That's what we build on: every batch traceable, with sorting and destination attached, and reports generated from the same data.
Demonstrable
Every kilo traceable.
Less manual work
Reports at the push of a button.
Stronger position
In tenders and contracts.
Security and privacy in textile collection chain tracking software
The software holds data on collection points, routes, buyers and prices. Access is set up per role: a driver sees their own routes, a municipality sees only its own figures, and commercial data about buyers stays with the people who need it. Every entry and change is recorded with a name and timestamp.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Records are retained, so you can show later on what happened to a batch.
Frequently asked questions about textile collection chain tracking software
Questions collectors and sorters ask before they get started.
Recording what happens to collected textiles, from collection point through route and sorting to the destination of each fraction. It lets you show, per batch, per municipality or per period, how much was collected, how much was suitable for reuse or recycling, and where it went.
Since 1 July 2023, the Dutch Extended Producer Responsibility for Textiles Decree has been in force. Producers of clothing and household textiles are responsible for the end-of-life phase and need figures from the chain to meet that obligation. Collectors and sorters who can supply those figures reliably therefore make a stronger partner.
The reporting tool is for the producer, who has to report on what they place on the market and how collection and processing are going. This software is for the collector and the sorter, where the chain figures originate. The two can be connected.
If the weighing system can output the data digitally, we import weights automatically and link them to the right route and batch. If it can't, someone enters the weight on receipt. We'll look at which route fits in the first step.
Per batch or per day, the sorting hall records how much ended up in each fraction, such as reuse, recycling and residual waste. The software traces that back to the origin, so you can show the yield per municipality or per collection point.
Yes, if you want that. A municipality then gets its own portal with the figures for its collection points, so you don't have to produce a report every time. You decide exactly what it sees.
For collectors and sorters with many collection points, several municipalities, or many streams and buyers. If you collect at just a few locations and deliver everything to a single sorter, a well-kept overview is often enough.
Every kilo of textile traceable?
Tell us how you currently track collection, weighing and sorting. We'll show you how the software can record the chain per batch.