By Pamela Vanessa Meixueiro Aguilar
Taking an old T-shirt to a recycling bin feels like the right thing to do, but what happens next? Textile recycling is often divided into two categories: pre-consumer, referring to waste from manufacturing processes, and post-consumer, where clothes are discarded after the use phase. Post-consumer recycling is complex; it promotes reuse and helps avoid incineration or landfilling. However, not every piece is viable for recycling. While 5% of the global waste comes from the textile industry, only a quarter of this waste is recovered or recycled, and 1% returns to the clothing cycle.
The process of recycling
After the use phase, charities and collector organizations receive garments, and it undergoes sorting, a process that removes foreign materials. The first step for sorting is done manually, averaging about 100 to 150 kg of sorted textiles per hour. Once this phase is complete, fabrics are separated into reuse or recycling. For reuse, no further processing is required, and the pieces are taken to second-hand stores or charities where they can be passed down from one owner to another. If the clothing isn’t viable for reuse, an automated system for advanced sorting takes place. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR), hyperspectral imaging, and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies are used to better classify fibre types. With this system, around 900–1500 kg is sorted per staff member each hour.
Textiles designated for recycling are then mechanically or chemically managed, or a combination of techniques is used. For mechanical management, the material is pulled apart, and the resulting fibres are spun into yarn. This is the more basic process; fibres are shortened, reducing their quality, therefore, blending them with virgin material is common. On the other hand, chemical recycling is often preceded by mechanical degradation and is a more suitable option for synthetic textiles. Through chemical processes, the material is broken down to its base components and can be respun into yarn and new fibres. It demands more energy, but the quality of the product is higher.
When neither reuse nor recycling of clothing is possible, textile waste is incinerated or disposed of in a landfill, where it contributes to environmental damage as it degrades, accounting for approximately 75% of textile waste. The remaining 25% represents textiles that are reused or recycled; 23% are reused and sold in second-hand stores, and 1% is recycled back into clothing.
Beyond Recycling
What begins as a simple act of dropping off a T-shirt at a recycling bin becomes part of a much larger journey.
Recycling and reducing textile waste are essential for a sustainable future, but they do not fully close the loop of a circular economy. Methods are implemented, but their impact is limited at scale. With global textile production continuing to grow each year, it becomes difficult to keep up with large volumes accumulating in dumpsites. In reality, much of what is collected cannot return to clothing in the same form, revealing the limits of today’s recycling systems.
Sources & Data
All environmental data are linked directly to their original reports within the article.