02. INVEST IN RECYCLING


Enabling recyclers to rapidly scale proven technologies from pilot to commercial scale will help minimize textile waste from entering landfill or becoming a product of lesser value.

Supporting all types of recycling, from established mechanical recycling infrastructure to emerging new technologies, and considering all generated waste from post-industrial to post-consumer will help promote a resilient circular economy for textiles. 

KEY ACTIONS FOR:

  • Priortize recycled fibers from textile sources to grow demand. Support raw material suppliers with offtake agreements

    Explore dye and print innovations that are more compatible with recycling

  • Utlize all types of recycling. Challenge your clients to design for circularity - longevity, repairability, recyclability. Pool together with other suppliers to nurture and build supply/demand loops. Monitor materials and chemicals - track, reduce and simplify

  • Signal demand for recycled materials, make offtake agreements with recyclers. Financially invest in textile-to-textile recyclers

    Circulate textile waste from all tiers of the supply chain. invest in circular design training for your teams and suppliers, to facilitate recycling downstream

  • Challenge your favourite brands, what are they doing to support textile recycling? To increase the chances of recycling, when shopping; select pure, unblended materials; if blended, try limit to poly-cotton; avoid elastane / spandex / LYCRA if not functional

    Buy less, buy better - quality products last longer, and are worth the effort to eventually recycle

  • Stipulate recycled content targets, eg. 50% recycled content with 25% from recycled textiles.

    Subsidize recycling production sites and support with permits. Ban the destruction of clothing and textiles and increase taxation for landfill. Encourage recycling - it can generate 3 times more jobs than landfill

    Invest in awareness campaigns - informed citizens make better choices when it comes to purchasing and disposal behavior

  • Invest in emerging recycling technologies to build diverse options globally to handle textile waste. Invest in established textile waste management and mechanical recycling infrastructure to handle the volume of waste

    Early stage investments to move technologies from lab / pilot to demo / full-scale plans. Consider supportive technologies targeting dyeing and printing to further reduce the impact of fashion production

“If we can involve all of the people in the system in redesigning the system, then it provides an opportunity for much more local ecosystems for the opportunity to actually have a more regenerative impact on the communities overall, by involving everybody along the supply chain in that future design piece”.

Laura Balmond - Fashion program Lead at Ellen MacArthur Foundation