MIT engineers have developed a recyclable elastic yarn that could reduce the amount of textile waste going to landfills. According to an MIT News story published on July 27, the engineers crafted the yarn using a core-and-sheath structure made from related polyethylene formulations. MIT collaborators include Svetlana Boriskina and others, with support from the U.S. Army and naval research offices as well as the MIT Portugal Program. “There's no widely adopted technology now that recycles textiles into textiles. However, no process recycles the yarn as a whole without chemical separation.