Clothing Recycling Systems Struggle To Keep Pace With Global Textile Waste

Clothing recycling efforts worldwide process only a small share of the vast amount of textiles discarded each year, with most unwanted garments ending up in landfills, incinerators, or exported abroad.

Estimates indicate that only a minor fraction of the 120 million metric tons of clothing disposed of globally each year is converted into fibers suitable for new apparel. In the United States, textile recyclers handle about 5 billion pounds of material annually, but most collected items are not remade into new clothing. Instead, they are reused, down-cycled into products such as insulation, or exported to other countries.

Recycling outcomes often depend on the type of collection system. For example, SMART member organizations in the U.S. report that 45% of collected textiles are reused as clothing, 30% are turned into industrial wiping cloths, and 20% are processed into fiber for products like stuffing or insulation. Only about 5% of these materials are considered unusable and discarded.

Take-back schemes run by major brands have also been examined. Investigations tracking items donated through such programs found that roughly three-quarters were either destroyed, abandoned, or exported rather than recycled into new garments. In one report, more than 75% of tracked items were lost, destroyed, or shipped to Africa, with only a small number reused or sold in Europe.

What the numbers show

• About 15 million metric tons of textile waste are generated annually in the U.S., but only 15% is collected for recycling or resale
• EU exports of used textiles rose from 550,000 tons in 2000 to 1.4 million tons in 2019
• The estimated raw-material value lost in discarded textile waste each year is $150 billion

Exports play a major role in the fate of used textiles. In the U.S., approximately 700,000 tons of used clothing are shipped overseas each year, with Guatemala accounting for over 20% of the export value. In Europe, a substantial share of collected textiles is sent to Africa and Asia, where the final outcome of these materials remains uncertain. Poor sorting and high volumes can result in up to half of some exported bales being disposed of through dumping or burning.

Recycling technologies face technical and economic barriers. Mechanical recycling struggles with mixed-fiber garments, which are difficult to separate, while chemical recycling methods are expensive and sometimes involve hazardous substances. Items that cannot be reused are often shredded for low-grade applications such as insulation or furniture stuffing.

In Ontario, Canada, only 38% of clothing and 26% of home textiles sent for recycling are reused, with the remainder down-cycled or discarded due to fiber quality. In the U.S., only about 20% of textiles donated to charities and thrift stores are resold domestically, while the rest are exported, shredded, or recycled into fibers for other uses.

Disposal of textile waste has environmental impacts. Burning one metric ton of textiles produces greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to six round-trip flights between London and New York, while landfilling the same amount equals eight such flights. Large-scale dumping sites, such as the one in Chile’s Atacama Desert, illustrate the scale of textile waste exported for disposal.

According to industry analysis, increasing recycling rates would require coordinated changes across the sector, including improved collection, adoption of new recycling technologies, greater operational efficiency, and additional investment.

* This article is based on publicly available information at the time of writing.