How to Enable Circularity in the Textile Sector

The textile industry is long overdue for a circular transformation. Today, it is among the largest contributors to global emissions, releasing an alarming 1 gigaton (Gt) of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere each year - accounting for approximately 3% of the world’s total emissions.?

Over the last 20 years, textile production has doubled worldwide, putting tremendous strain on our already dwindling virgin resources and compromising the health of our planet. Today, only 1% of the textiles produced are circular (made from recycled textile fibers).?

Over-production and overconsumption are the main causes of post-consumer textile waste, which accounts for 85% of the textile waste generated in both Europe and North America. In Europe alone, over 15 kilograms of textile waste is generated per person per year, with the largest proportion being clothes and household textiles.?

Establishing effective systems for textile waste?

To reshape the textiles value chain, prioritization must be given to the top tiers of the resource hierarchy: using less, reusing more, and recycling the rest. For this to be achieved, industry and governments must establish effective systems for the collection, sorting, and fiber-to-fiber recycling of textile waste.??

To stimulate investments in infrastructure and scale-up automated textile sorting and recycling to ensure textile fibers remain in circulation, an appropriate legislative push will be required. Environmental policy principles such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes can ensure that companies that place textiles on the market are responsible for the collection, sorting, and recycling of textile waste.?

Until recently, the sole mandatory EPR scheme for textile waste in the EU was in France. However, the Netherlands has now also implemented a comprehensive EPR framework for textiles. This regulation encompasses manufacturers within the country, regional retailers, and foreign retailers catering to Dutch consumers. Notably, it also applies to importers introducing textiles into the Dutch market, ensuring thorough oversight of the entire textile industry.?

Dealing with textile waste in a sustainable way?

The first opportunity to achieve a circular value chain for textiles occurs in the design phase, when decisions that affect longevity and recyclability are made, such as implementing design elements to facilitate easy material separation.?

When textiles can no longer be reused, textile recycling offers a viable and sustainable alternative to landfilling or incinerating waste. Textile recycling can be categorized into two major practices: closed-loop and open-loop recycling.?

Closed-loop textile recycling (also referred to as fiber-to-fiber recycling or textile-to-textile recycling) is a process in which the fibers from textile waste are recycled again and again, creating new textiles of the same or similar application. This ensures materials are kept in constant circulation, decreasing raw material production, and reducing the amount of textile waste that ends up landfilled or burned.?

Textile waste that is downcycled for less demanding applications such as carpet fibers and insulation is referred to open-loop recycling. Recycled textiles that are distinctly different from the original application will eventually reach a point where they can no longer be recycled and must be disposed of in landfills or incinerators.?

“The European Union’s strategy for sustainable textiles emphasizes the need to make old fibers into new fibers, and not plastic bottles into fibers.”?

Vibeke Krohn, Head of TOMRA Textiles?

Enabling textile recycling by going full circle?

As an innovation leader in automated textile sorting, TOMRA works in close partnership with governments and the value chain to support policies that can help to increase the availability of infrastructure for traceable textile collection, sorting, reuse, and fiber-to-fiber recycling.?

By closing the loop on textiles, we can reduce our dependence on raw materials and prevent recycled plastic from being diverted away from its intended uses. This will not only help reduce the textile sector’s impact on the environment but will also promote greater circularity in the industry.?

For a more in-depth look at how to create a new, circular textiles value chain, download TOMRA’s newest white paper, Transforming Textiles: 4 Key Beliefs to Enable Textiles Circularity.??

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