Recycled Textiles

 

Textile recycling is one of the world's oldest and most established recycling industries, but few people understand it and its many players. Textiles have been recycled since the eighteenth century, when the Napoleonic War caused a shortage of virgin wool and necessitated the gathering of wool fibers into new yarns. Despite the fact that the textile industry has been using used fibers for at least 150 years, the markets for recycled textile fiber are still evolving.

The textile recycling process is a multifaceted system that takes place along a pipeline of interconnected constituents that not only converts pre- and post-consumer waste back into fiber, but also extracts new fiber from domestic waste. PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the chemical substance used to make some polyester, is reclaimed from plastic soda bottles. Although recycling is both politically correct and environmentally friendly, recyclable textile products make up 4-6 percent of landfills because discarded clothing and textile waste fail to reach the recycling pipeline, primarily because consumers do not understand the recycling process. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, per capita fiber consumption in the United States is 67.9 pounds, with over 40 pounds (59 percent) discarded per year. In the countries where statistics are available, the United Kingdom deposits the highest percentages (90%) of textile waste to landfill, followed by Germany (65%), Denmark (30%), and Switzerland (20%).

A Global Problem

Western consumption patterns promote excess, which has a negative impact on global sustainability. Global sustainability is improved by implementing textile recycling. Two critical issues concerning the global nature of textile recycling are: (1) There is textile waste.

(2) Much of the used-clothing market is located in developing countries, where annual wages are sometimes less than the cost of one outfit in the United States. Many people in developing countries require access to used clothing surplus from industrialized nations. According to Simpson (1996), nearly 34,000 tons of used clothing are sent to Africa each year. Because not all countries permit the importation of used clothing, black markets have sprung up as goods cross borders to meet market demand.

Prato, Italy; Dewsbury, United Kingdom; and, more recently, India are the three primary areas for reclaimed apparel processing. These processing centers collect used clothing from all over the world, sort it by color and fiber content, mechanically reduce it to a fiber state, and then reprocess it into new yarns and end products.

The Process of Recycling Textiles

The markets for used textile fiber range from vintage collectibles to used clothing exported to developing countries to industrial applications. Traditional sources of textile waste include three distinct sources:

1. fiber, yarn, and fabric processing
2. sewn products manufacture
3. discard at the end of its useful life

Manufacturing textile and cutting wastes are considered pre-consumer waste and are easier to recycle because the fibers, dyes, and finishes are known and in like-new condition. Post-consumer waste has an unknown origin and a wide range of quality and condition, making recycling more difficult. Ongoing research and development focuses on the problem of mixed fiber processing.

Recycled Textiles: Source, Usage, and Benefits
Source	Usage	Primary Benefit
Wearable post-consumer clothing	Export to less developed countries Disaster relief Vintage collectibles	Cost Charity Premium resale
Non-wearable post-consumer clothing	Wipers	Cost Ecological
Polyester/cotton manufacturing waste	Feedstock for engineered plastics	Energy savings Cost Relative weight Abundance of materials
Shoddy mungo	Insulating pads Bedding Blankets	Cost Durability
Linters	Cotton felts	Cost
Fiber waste	Paper pulp Hi-density composite Fibrous composites Laminated composites Particulate composites Concrete filler material	Low water absorption Does not release harmful chemicals
Recycled PET	Fleece outerwear Carpets	Thermal properties Environmental

Glossary of Technical Terms Related to Recycled Fabrics and Fibers

Clippings: Waste generated from a sewn-products cutting room.

Cream: Goods in like-new condition that have not been circulated in the consumer market.

Deadstock: A product that is not useable or saleable.

Garnet: To separate fabric into the fibers from which it is made by using a machine with need like teeth that pull the fabric apart.

Mill Overruns: Anything made for first quality but not used, e.g. overproduction.

Mungo: Fibers extracted from woven garments. Fibers obtained by this method are very short and must be mixed with longer fibers to enable successful spinning.

Needlepunch Wipers: Wipers manufactured from textile waste products.

PET: Thermoplastic polyester based on polyethylene terephthalate, i.e. recyclable plastics.

Post-Consumer Textile Waste: Textile waste from the home.

Pre-Consumer Textile Waste: Waste produced from manufacturing processes.

Rag Sorter: A company that grades post-consumer textile waste based on product, condition, or material content.

Reworkable Waste: Waste from the manufacturing process that can be fed more or less directly back into the process.

Shoddy: Fibers produced from knitted garments

Soft Waste: Waste from the manufacture of garments and yarns, mixed with new fiber by spinners to produce cheaper yarns.

Textile MRF: A facility that grades and sorts post-consumer waste.

Vintage Used Clothing: Reused clothing that has become fashionable or has collectible value.

Wipers: Squares cut from any cloth or material used to clean or polish.

Some of these textile recycling glossary terms have been adapted from the Council for Textile Recycling Buyers Guide and Directory, Bethesda, Md.: Council for Textile Recycling, 1995.

Most post-consumer textiles are collected by charitable organizations; however, because charities cannot use all of the clothing collected, the remainder is sold to rag graders. In the United States, approximately 500 textile recycling companies are responsible for diverting 775,000 tons of post-consumer textile waste from landfills. These "rag sorters" sort used clothing for export, as well as wipers and fiber and fabric manufacturers (Council for Textile Recycling 1997). Although textile recyclers have traditionally purchased their inventory by weight from charity surplus, they have recently begun to diversify their supplier base by assisting municipalities in developing curbside and drop-off textile collection programs. Almost half (45%) of the collected goods are recycled as secondhand clothing, which is typically sold in developing-country markets. Thirty percent is used in the wiper industry, and the remaining 26 percent is converted into new raw materials that are primarily used as stuffing or insulation pads.