The UK’s used textiles sector is facing a collapse operating as it does at an unsustainable financial loss, and the meltdown would cost an additional £64 million per year, environmental NGO WRAP has warned even as it suggests three solutions that could help save the industry and ensure used clothing is not wasted.
COST IMPACT: The £64 million increase in costs would happen alongside an immediate impact to the environment with an increase of ~2.5 million tonnes CO2e per yeardue to the increase in landfill and incineration.
- The £64 million increase would be further to the £73 million local authorities already pay for the textiles citizens currently put in the bin.
- Without funding support, costs of up to £200 million per year by 2035 can be expected, should the burden fall on councils to collect and dispose of the unwanted clothes.
- The cost of collecting and sorting worn-out textiles in the UK is estimated at £88 million per year in the report.
- Charities will lose income, and existing collections and sorting will not be able to operate.
- Councils will have to choose between sending more material to landfill and incineration, or paying more for collections, with no other option to foot the bill than increasing council tax.
- The cost for collectors and sorters to gather and process the UK’s worn-out textiles was previously balanced out by the money they made on reuseable items, but this is no longer the case—there are fewer reusable items that are desirable in global second-hand markets. Most businesses are currently operating at a loss and out of public service, and this is unsustainable.
THE WAY OUT: Urging the sector to work together towards creating a circular economy for textiles through ACT UK, WRAP has identified three solutions that together could help save the industry and ensure used clothing is not wasted: automatic sorting, Extended Producer Responsibility and a redesign of retailer take-back schemes.
ACT NOW: The Automatic-sorting for Circularity in Textiles (ACT UK) project involved 18 partners across the textile value chain. It aimed to establish a blueprint for innovative advanced sorting and pre-processing facilities in the UK to bridge the gap between worn-out textiles and an important step to unlocking textile recycling, to keep resources at a higher value and contributing to the economy.
- Sorted textiles have a higher value because they will be fibre-sorted and pre-processed to recyclers’ specifications.
- Public appetite to recycle worn-out clothing is high. During the ACT UK collection trials, up to 46% more textiles were collected by giving the public an opportunity to donate their worn-out textiles alongside textiles that could be reused by someone else.
- Advanced sorting and pre-processing facilities would save worn-out items from being sent to landfill, incineration or overseas to destinations already overwhelmed and unequipped to deal with the scale of the Global North’s used textiles, instead creating feedstock for textile recycling.
- By creating a network of fourteen 25,000 tonne capacity per year advanced sorting and pre-processing facilities in the UK, it is estimated that the cost for collecting and sorting worn out clothing would be reduced by around half by 2035.
WHAT THEY SAID
The charity sector plays a vital role in enabling a circular economy for fashion in the UK – a role it has been playing for over a hundred years. The sector now faces a crisis, with storage rooms up and down the country bursting with unsellable stock that collectors refuse to take. The knock-on effects of this are huge, with charities struggling to generate revenue, and the circular economy for clothes grinding to a halt. There is a way out of this mess – we call on the sector to join us in realising the vision recommended in this report, and to work together towards creating a circular economy for textiles through ACT UK.
— Catherine David
CEO (incoming)
WRAP
Non-reusable textiles are not waste, they are resources. Through automated sorting and pre-processing for recycling, these resources will replace the use of virgin materials in textile production.
— Cyndi Rhoades
Co-Founder & CEO
Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems
