Over 120 million metric tonnes of clothing were discarded last year - a vast quantity that is more than enough to fill 200 Olympic stadiums. About 80% ended up in landfill or incinerated and only 12% of this material was reused. But the total value of unrecovered textile waste could be in the region on $150 billion each year, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Its report Spinning Textile Waste into Value indicates there could be even more waste to come as shifting consumer habits are leading some consumers to buy more clothing but wearing them less frequently, which means textile waste could exceed 150 million tonnes each year in the next five years.
“The cost of waste is staggering. We are throwing away billions in value while missing a huge opportunity to make the fashion industry more sustainable and resilient,” says Catharina Martinez-Pardo, a BCG managing director and partner and coauthor of the report.
With existing recycling systems not built to handle the volume of textiles discarded, the report calls for ‘system-wide improvements’ that could boost recycling rates to more than 30% leading to new fibres with a raw material value of more than $50 billion. But to reach this goal greater effort will have to be put into collecting waste textile, adopting new technologies, increasing operational efficiency and boosting investment, the report asserts. “To turn ambition in reality fashion brands, investors, innovators and consumers must collaborate,” the report says.
Highlighting the environmental costs, the report says that producing textiles – from extracting raw materials through to manufacturing – accounts for 92% of the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. But disposal adds to the impact, whether that is by burning clothes or throwing them into landfill. Open dumping adds another layer of risk by potentially releasing harmful microplastics into the environment.
Compounding the problems ,the report says that disposal options are also dwindling. US textile waste increased by 50% between 2000 and 2018. At this pace, says the report, landfills in the country would reach capacity by 2038.
With regulatory pressures and supply chain volatility added to the mix, the report asserts that the industry must rethink how it works. To scale the circular economy for textiles, the report sets out five potential actions:
Invest in innovation: The report says that upgrading to an effective circular ecosystem for textiles requires “across the board investment in innovation.” Collectively investors have provided $250 million in funding for recycling ventures such as Circ, Syre, and Infinited Fibre. But even with these promising early steps, the textile recycling industry hasn’t attracted enough funding to scale operations to the capital-intensive industrial levels needed. The report calls for manufacturers and investors to coordinate their investments.
Promoting demand for textiles produce with recycled fibres: This would see the leading players in the fashion and textile sector collaborating with the many smaller businesses that make up the sector promoting higher volume demand.
More waste collection: To meet an increased demand for recycled fibres, scaling existing waste collection systems and creating new ones is required. The report asserts that in the EU, combining new public and private initiatives with existing programmes could boost textile waste collection rates by 20% to 25% by 2033, bringing total collection rates up to 50% to 55%.
Modernise sorting: Using technologies such as near-infrared spectroscopy and robotics can increase throughput, and precision, enabling sorters to quickly process larger quantities of textile waste, including lower quality materials.
Effective recycling solutions: Recycling is currently the least developed stage in the textile value chain the report says, with few industrial-scale solutions in place. Scaling up textile recycling will require significant improvements in technology, infrastructure and operational practices.
Dealing with the world's plastic waste is also in the spotlight as stakeholders; meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, this week are expected to announce a legally binding treaty on the issue. Negotiations at INC5.2, the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution including the marine environment are set to conclude this Friday.
Further reading:
- How sustainable textiles could revolutionise fashion [C&I premium content]
- Greener dyeing [C&I premium content]
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