UK Textile recycling information

Textile recycling originated in the Yorkshire Dales about 200 years ago. These days the 'rag and bone' men are textile reclamation businesses, which collect textiles for reuse (often abroad), and send material to the 'wiping' and 'flocking' industry and fibres to be reclaimed to make new garments. Textiles made from both natural and man-made fibres can be recycled.It is estimated that more than 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year, with most of this coming from household sources. Textiles make up about 3% by weight of a household bin. At least 50% of the textiles we throw away are recyclable; however, the proportion of textile wastes reused or recycled annually in the UK is only around 25%.Although the majority of textile waste originates from household sources, waste textiles also arise during yarn and fabric manufacture, garment-making processes and from the retail industry.These are termed post-industrial waste, as opposed to the post-consumer waste which goes to jumble sales and charity shops. Together they provide a vast potential for recovery and recycling.Recovery and recycling provide both environmental and economic benefits.Textile recovery:•Reduces the need for landfill space. Textiles present particular problems in landfill as synthetic (man-made fibres) products will not decompose, while woollen garments do decompose and produce methane, which contributes to global warming.• Reduces pressure on virgin resources.• Aids the balance of payments as we import fewer materials for our needs.• Results in less pollution and energy savings, as fibres do not have to be transported from abroad.Reclaiming fibre avoids many of the polluting and energy intensive processes needed to make textiles from virgin materials, including: -• Savings on energy consumption when processing, as items do not need to be re-dyed or scoured.• Less effluent, as unlike raw wool, it does not have to be thoroughly washed using large volumes of water.• Reduction of demand for dyes and fixing agents and the problems caused by their use and manufacture.FACT - Over 70% of the world's population use second hand clothesThe majority of post-consumer textiles are currently collected by charities like The Salvation Army, Scope and Oxfam. Some charities, for example Oxfam and The Salvation Army, sort collected material selling it on to merchants in the appropriate sectors.Some post-industrial waste is recycled 'in-house', usually in the yarn and fabric manufacturing sector. The rest, aside from going to landfill or incineration, is sent to merchants.Collection MethodsAt present the consumer has the option of putting textiles in 'clothes banks', taking them to charity shops or having them picked up for a jumble sale.Recyclatex, a scheme run by the Textile Recycling Association in conjunction with local authorities and charities, provides textile banks for public use.The Salvation Army, Scope, and Oxfam also use a bank scheme in conjunction with other methods.Scope, for example, runs a national door-to-door textile collection service.There are about 3,000 textile banks nationwide, but clothes banks are only operating at about 25% capacity.The Salvation Army is the largest operator of textile banks in the UK, with over 2,000 banks nationwide. On average, each of these banks is estimated to collect about six tonnes of textiles per year.With combined door-to-door collections; The Salvation Army's textile recycling operations account for the processing of in excess of 17,000 tonnes of clothing a year.Clothes are given to the homeless, sold in charity shops or sold in developing countries in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and parts of Eastern Europe.Nearly 70% of items put into clothing banks are reused as clothes, and any un-wearable items are sold to merchants to be recycled and used as factory wiping cloths.The average lifetime of a garment is about three years.