A new ACT UK report has presented a blueprint for the UK’s first Advanced Textile Sorting and Pre-processing (ATSP) facility, enabling large-scale fibre-to-fibre recycling. The report is the outcome of a two-year initiative which brought together retailers, manufacturers, recyclers, charities and academics to trial processes from sorting non-rewearable textiles (NRT) to producing 100% recycled garments. With advanced sorting technology secured for 2026, it outlines the urgent need for coordinated action to keep textile resources in use and reduce landfill waste.
- End-to-end trials demonstrated the viability of UK-sourced feedstock and highlighted technical and commercial challenges in using recycled fibres within current manufacturing systems, emphasising the need for innovation and adaptation.
- Research explored how automation can improve sorting accuracy and how greater public participation, supported by policy and investment, could help build a fully circular textile economy.
- The Autosort for Circular Textiles Demonstrator (ACT UK) alliance was created to design a national system capable of converting NRT into high-quality feedstock for fibre-to-fibre recycling, with detailed engineering specifications, site designs and operational plans for the planned ATSP facility.
- The ACT UK final report, Automatic-sorting for Circularity in Textiles, was released on Thursday.
MAKING IT WORK: The report emphasises that automated sorting alone is insufficient; a whole-system approach involving policy, investment, design, infrastructure and public engagement is essential for long-term sustainability. Its suggestions include:
- A nationwide network of ATSP facilities could transform the UK fashion and textile industry, acting as a catalyst for sustainable change across the entire value chain.
- Ensuring long-term ATSP viability depends on maximising volumes of sorted NRT for recycling, starting with textile design that enables inherent recyclability and material recovery.
- Robust policy interventions, including eco-modulated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and minimum recycled content legislation, are critical to supporting a commercially viable circular textiles ecosystem.
- Significant upfront investment is essential to address immediate and future commercial challenges, while creating a resilient economic foundation for fibre-to-fibre recycling expansion.
- Expanded and modernised sorting and collection infrastructure is necessary to supply consistent feedstock and enable fibre-to-fibre recycling at the required national scale.
- Public willingness to dispose of textiles sustainably must be harnessed through clear, consistent messaging and targeted communication campaigns to increase participation in recycling systems.
- Businesses see recycled content as central to net-zero strategies, but efficiency improvements are needed across collection, sorting and recycling to meet future demand.
- Failure to act will escalate waste management costs, harm the environment, and pass financial burdens to consumers through higher retail and disposal expenses.
- Further research is required to confirm feasibility, with detailed analysis of recycling impacts, collection system performance and full economic modelling across the supply chain.
CHANGING THINGS: ACT UK’s long-term vision is to secure the UK’s place as a global leader in circular fashion and textile recycling and innovation. This will:
- Affect change: Enable businesses and government to measure, report, and achieve net-zero targets
- Improve environmental impact: Divert NRTs away from municipal landfill, incineration, and/or export and into materials recycling processes
- Drive economic growth: Turn waste into resources by scaling up emerging recycling methods that will enable old textiles to become new textile raw materials for the global marketplace
- Generate employment: Create jobs in the UK’s textile sector, including new, regional green jobs, which will have significant spillovers into regional education and social inclusion
- Increase exports and investment: Become an international showcase for a circular ecosystem by demonstrating real-world environmental and economic benefits of regional infrastructure evolution
THREE-PRONGED: ACT UK is working to achieve these outcomes by focusing on three key project areas:
- Post-consumer textile (PCT) collection and logistics: ACT UK is trialling textile collection with partners and external organisations to capture non-rewearable textiles (NRT) before landfill or incineration. These trials aim to optimise PCT collection methods and improve NRT management for a more sustainable textile economy.
- State-of-the-art technology development: A market review of existing and emerging solutions for textile identification, conveyance and pre-processing is informing the design and blueprint of the ATSP facility.
- Circular textiles ecosystem: Alongside the ATSP blueprint, ACT UK is conducting recycling supply chain trials and building the business case for an economically viable UK circular textiles system.
THE BACKDROP: The UK fashion and textile sector faces the urgent challenge of tackling 744,000 tonnes of post-consumer NRT each year. With global fibre-to-fibre recycling rates below 1%, there is an opportunity to build a UK closed-loop recycling supply chain. Scaling automated sorting and processing is vital to provide consistent feedstock for advanced recycling technologies, enabling the industry to reduce waste, improve resource efficiency and deliver greater socio-economic value.
- End-to-end trials in Europe suggest textile-to-textile recycling could reach 18–26% of gross textile waste by 2030, creating thousands of green jobs and reducing emissions.
- Global advances in mechanical, thermochemical, thermomechanical and chemical methods show potential to transform NRT into fibres for new products.
- ACT UK aims to replace exports and manual sorting with cost-effective automated processes, ensuring consistent feedstock for fibre-to-fibre recycling.
THE ALLIANCE: ACT UK’s steering committee comprises members from: UKFT, Alex Begg, Camira, Circle-8, IBM Consulting UK, Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Marks & Spencer, New Look, Oxfam, Reskinned, Salvation Army Trading Company, Shred Station, Tesco, Textile Recycling Association, Textile Recycling International, University of Huddersfield, University of Leeds, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), Worn Again Technologies.
