It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable

Recycling Crisis 2 June 2025

The Recycling Crisis: Industry Barriers and Solutions

Europe's textile recycling industry faces unprecedented challenges despite growing waste volumes and regulatory pressure. Leading industry experts reveal critical gaps in traceability, technology deployment, and policy implementation that threaten circular economy ambitions across the continent.

[The texfash Spotlight series runs through the week.]

In This Series

With Europeans producing 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste annually and most still ending up burned, dumped, or exported, the industry needs solutions that can deliver impact today, not in decades. The frenzied rush towards chemical recycling, while potentially transformative, risks creating expensive, exclusive pathways that leave the majority of textile waste unaddressed.

Snapshot / Recycling Crisis / II

Beyond Chemical Promises: Why Textile Recycling Needs a Technology Reality Check

Chemical recycling attracts billions in investment promises while proven mechanical methods remain underutilised. With 73% of collected textile waste still landfilled or incinerated globally, industry experts question whether technological tunnel vision is preventing immediate impact and realistic circularity solutions.

Subir Ghosh

Feature

3 June 2025

7 minutes

The textile recycling market is projected to grow, but investment remains concentrated in companies that can demonstrate material flow predictability

Snapshot / Recycling Crisis / I

The Data Divide: How Traceability Gaps Are Crushing Textile Recycling Economics

Europe's textile recycling industry generates only €1.54 billion annually despite processing millions of tonnes of waste, highlighting systemic economic challenges. Industry experts reveal how data invisibility and traceability gaps create cascading costs that undermine commercial viability and prevent meaningful circularity at scale.

Subir Ghosh

Feature

2 June 2025

7 minutes