How can fabrics be recycled

How long was it since you last wore some of those clothes? Do you think it might be time for a clear out? But what then? The average American has been estimated to throw away around 37kg of clothes every year. And globally, an estimated 92 million tonnes of textiles waste is created each year and the equivalent to a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up on landfill sites every second. By , we are expected as a whole to be discarding more than million tonnes of textiles a year.

Millions of tonnes of clothing, shoes and other textiles end up in landfill every year because very little is sent for recycling Credit: Alamy. Read more about the impact our fashion addiction has on the planet. More than two tonnes of clothing are bought each minut e in the UK, more than any other country in Europe. Globally, around 56 million tonnes of clothing are bought each year , and this is expected to rise to 93 million tonnes by and million tonnes by While most clothes with care will last many years, changing fashions mean their lifespan is artificially shortened by consumers changing tastes.

Industry figures suggest modern clothing will have a lifespan of between years — with underwear and t-shirts lasting just one to two years, while suits and coats last for around four to six years. Would recycling our clothes help to reduce the toll our fashion addiction has on the environment?

Currently just Indeed, most of the recycled polyester being used now by leading fashion brands in fact comes from bottles rather than old clothing.

Much of the problem comes down to what our clothes are made from. The fabrics we drape over our bodies are complex combinations of fibres, fixtures and accessories. They are made from problematic blends of natural yarns, mand-made filaments, plastics and metals. Sorting clothing by hand is a time consuming task made more complicated by the many blends of man-made and natural fibres used in modern garments Credit: Getty Images.

This makes them hard to separate so they can be effectively recycled. This is why after donations are collected, sorting textiles is a crucial part of the process. Textiles are sorted by type clothing versus linens, towels, etc. Once the textiles are properly sorted, they are then pulled into fibers or shredded, which results in yarn. Next, the yarn is processed and cleaned. It then is re-spun so that it can be reused, either by being knitted or woven.

Any fiber that cannot be spun into yards is compressed into filling, such as insulation or textile filling inside of mattresses. The chips are then melted so that they can create new fibers for new polyester textiles.

Where you can recycle your fabric and fabric scraps largely depends on where you live. If you live in a well-populated city, chances are there is a local textile recycling program that you can contact. They accept everything from clean and dry clothing, shoes, bedding, linens, hats, handbags, belts, fabric scraps that are by inches or larger , and other various textiles. They do not, however, accept rugs, carpeting, or commercial waste. GrowNYC categorizes its fabrics, then sells them for reuse as clothing, linens, and more, or sells them to recycling markets that transform these materials into rags and fiber for insulation.

The donation of old garments is supported by non-profit as well as many corporate programs, including those of Nike and Patagonia. Most of the reused clothing is exported to other countries.

For the basics of recycling, read my article, How Clothing Recycling Works. For textiles to be recycled, there are fundamental differences between natural and synthetic fibers.

For natural textiles:. In the case of polyester-based textiles, garments are shredded and then granulated for processing into polyester chips. These are subsequently melted and used to create new fibers for use in new polyester fabrics. As society becomes more familiar with the hazards associated with sending old textiles to the landfill, and as new recycling technologies develop, it can be anticipated that the textile recycling industry will continue to grow.

At the same time, watch for trends such as slow fashion to draw continued attention to the interplay of clothing and sustainability. The fast fashion industry generates considerable pollution and a sizeable negative impact on climate change. Consumers can help affect change by choosing clothing brands that last longer and which demonstrate a commitment to reducing their climate change impact. Grand View Research. Environmental Protection Agency.

Close the Loop. Planet Aid. That means that disposed textiles that end up in landfills, take more than years to decompose. What happens then? The most common organic fibers that garments are made of are cotton , wool and silk , which are biodegradable.

The majority of garments, though, are blends and contain polyester. Biodegradation is an environmentally friendly process due to its natural decomposition.

However, when dumped into landfill, textiles go through a process called anaerobic digestion , where the constant compression of textile waste layers glean the air out of the waste making the atmosphere ideal for anaerobic bacteria.

From an environmental aspect, textile recycling decreases the demand for chemical dyes, considering that about 10, chemical dyes are used during textile production. Just imagine the environmental damage this causes. Another essential benefit is the preservation of virgin fibers used for the massive production of garments.