Sustainable Fashion: Challenges and innovations in recycling old clothes!

Recycling is only one part of the solution

KAKALI DAS

Love buying new clothes? You’re not alone! Shopping has never been easier, with fashion becoming faster and more disposable than ever.

Every year, around 100 billion garments are produced, with most of them ending up in landfills within just a year. The situation looks as grim as you’d imagine. However, emerging technologies have the potential to significantly reduce this number.

Could these innovations transform our massive piles of discarded textiles into sustainable materials and help curb this staggering waste? And just how challenging is it to recycle old clothes?

Great news for all the optimists – the fashion industry has vast potential for improvement, particularly with the rise of fast fashion.

Sustainable Fashion: Challenges and innovations in recycling old clothes — Image: Powershift

The textile industry is responsible for roughly 10% of global carbon emissions. It’s also highly resource-intensive, consuming around 90 billion cubic meters of water annually—about 4% of the world’s freshwater usage. And it’s not just water; a vast range of resources go into producing our clothes.

“Almost always, these materials undergo extensive chemical processing—whether for finishing or dyeing—to achieve their final form. As a result, even natural materials often aren’t truly biodegradable. In fact, it can take over 200 years for these textiles to biodegrade in the industry,” says Priyanka Khanna, Innovation Director at Fashion for Good.

India faces the challenge of managing a staggering 7,800 kilotons of textile waste annually, representing 8.5% of the global total.

Of this waste, 51% comes from post-consumer sources, such as discarded clothing, while 42% is generated as pre-consumer waste during production, including fabric offcuts and yarn scraps. The remaining 7% is imported.

And that’s a major issue because textile waste is piling up at an alarming rate. “In the U.S., textile waste has increased by 80% since 2000, making it our fastest-growing waste stream. Every year, we send over 30 billion pounds of textiles to landfills—just in the U.S. alone,” says Rachel Kibbe, CEO of Circular Services Group.

Most of our old clothes end up in landfills, and what doesn’t is often burned. Unsold stock and donated clothing are frequently sent to the Global South for resale. In places like Accra, Ghana, however, 40% of the items that arrive are deemed trash upon arrival.

The U.S. exports over 600 million kilograms of used clothing abroad each year, primarily to the rest of the Americas, while Europe ships more than 1.5 billion kilograms, much of it destined for Africa. In these regions, discarded textiles often end up being dumped, burned, or polluting oceans and waterways.

Textile waste isn’t just made up of old, worn-out clothes ready for disposal; it also includes excess stock and the scraps produced during manufacturing.

“Less than 1% of this material is recycled today, which means all of it is ending up somewhere,” Priyanka Khanna said.

“When we collect clothes, they are primarily sorted for reuse, as that holds the highest value. Some of those clothes may be downcycled into insulation, others may be sold as wiper rags, and a small portion can be mechanically recycled. However, mechanical recycling has its limitations,” Rachael Kibbe further said.

In 2024, mechanical recycling remains the best option available. While repurposing clothes into new fibers is far better than sending them to landfills, it often results in a decline in quality, and such materials are rarely recyclable again. However, that could change in the near future.

A number of exciting new recycling companies are emerging, showcasing innovative technology, competing for funding, and aiming to shape the future of textile waste management.

Chemical recycling, where textiles are broken down to the molecular level and then reconstructed into various materials, is being hailed as a better solution.

In response to this growing issue, three government bodies in India have come together. The Textiles Committee under the Union Ministry of Textiles, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises, Department of Public Enterprises, signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Bharat Tex 2024, India’s premier global textile event.

Panipat, once known as Asia’s largest textile recycling hub, has a long tradition of spinning yarns and weaving textiles. The recycling industry in Panipat began to take shape in the 1980s when the import of virgin wool became unaffordable.

Respun is India’s first textile recycling service, helping you declutter your closet in an eco-friendly way. By recycling old clothes, not only do they save textiles from ending up in landfills, but also provide dignified employment to rural workers. In 2024, Respun saved 6,160 tonnes of fashion waste from landfill, and provided 1,32,000 hours of rural employment.

MuddleArt, another textile waste management company in India helps textile waste from manufacturing processes become raw material.

While some companies only recycle cotton, Australia’s BlockTexx can recycle blended materials by shredding waste, chemically breaking down garments, and separating polyester from cellulose, whether it’s natural or synthetic cotton.

Polyester is converted into pellets that can be used for textiles or in construction materials, while cellulose is transformed into a clay-like substance with applications in textiles, agriculture, and even packaging.

Adrian Jones co-founded BlockTexx in 2018. “We want BlockTexx to produce outputs that can benefit many, rather than just one. I think that’s been a key difference for us. In the industry, everyone is focused on producing more textiles,” the co-founder said.

BlockTexx recently announced an expansion of its capacity to 10,000 tons per year. Berlin’s Re-Fresh Global also focuses on flexibility. Using a biotech approach, bacteria break down and sanitize textile waste, creating three raw materials: nanocellulose, ethanol, and sanitized textile pulp.

Through its partners, Re-Fresh Global transforms these materials into products ranging from furniture and bike frames to ethanol-based cosmetics. As a newer company compared to many competitors, Re-Fresh Global plans to develop a network of smaller facilities that can be quickly and flexibly built in collaboration with partners.

That’s a very different approach from Sweden’s Renewcell. One of the world’s largest chemical textile recyclers, it was one of the first to build an industrial-scale commercial textile recycling facility.

At Renewcell, cotton textiles are shredded into a slurry, separated from contaminants, and then dried into sheets of what they call ‘Circulose’ – a circular cellulose material. This can replace virgin materials like cotton, oil, or wood in the production of new, high-quality textiles.

By breaking down textiles to the molecular level, Renewcell ensures that quality is maintained, and they claim that their Circulose can undergo the recycling process up to seven times. However, there are limitations: they can only recycle waste that is at least 95% cotton, meaning much of the material filling landfills isn’t eligible for recycling in the first place.

Renewcell’s recycling plant, which opened in 2022, has the capacity to recycle 60,000 tons annually, with room for expansion to 120,000 tons.

Though Renewcell’s ambition made it a standout in the industry, it wasn’t enough to sustain the company. Shockingly, Renewcell filed for bankruptcy in February 2024. Just days before the announcement, the company revealed that it was recycling far below its capacity, with fashion brands hesitant to fully commit to recycled materials.

Renewcell partnered with brands like Levi’s to recycle production waste and incorporate Circulose into their products. H&M became a shareholder in 2017, but it still wasn’t enough to make the plant profitable in its first year.

Renewcell described its bankruptcy as a reflection of the lack of leadership and the slow pace of change in the fashion industry. The company’s struggles portray the challenges that recyclers face in this sector.

“Existing business models, in which most fashion brands are entrenched, don’t really support initiatives like Renewcell in achieving long-term success,” said Teresa Domenech, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources.

While recycled materials reduce reliance on water-intensive cotton or oil-based synthetics, they are currently more expensive. The challenge lies in making them widely available, at a price point that can compete with virgin fibers.

Mechanical recycling has made limited progress over the last decade, while innovation in chemical recycling has led to a surge of companies racing to scale up. However, achieving profitability before widespread adoption remains a significant challenge.

“Perhaps we need more support from governments and public bodies to make these initiatives work. We know that purely business-driven disruption may not succeed in a system that lacks the right conditions. We might need to support these pioneers through the early stages of development,” said Teresa Domenech.

It’s not just about perfecting recycling technology – entire, complex supply chains must be adapted to accommodate new materials. Waste needs to be efficiently collected, sorted, and processed, and both producers and consumers must be on board with the changes.

All of this requires significant investment. An estimated €7 billion would be needed to scale up recycling to process 20% of textile waste in Europe by 2030. While there is plenty of venture capital flowing into these startups, Renewcell demonstrates that a profit-driven fashion industry won’t adopt recycling out of goodwill alone.

“There isn’t enough pressure from legislation to compel the industry to adopt these materials. While the industry shouldn’t necessarily require force, if these materials are going to be more expensive and the transition involves thousands of suppliers in Asia and brands worldwide, it really comes down to access to information. This isn’t easily achieved until legislation typically steps in,” said Priyanka Khanna, Fashion for Good.

Big companies are significantly advancing towards sustainable fashion. IKEA aims for all products to be reusable, refurbishable, or recyclable by 2030, with initiatives like the “Buy Back and Resell” programme and transitioning to renewable packaging. Decathlon refurbishes used sports gear via its “Second Life Program” and plans for all products to be eco-designed by 2026.

H&M collects garments for reuse and recycling through its Garment Collecting Program, targeting 100% sustainable materials by 2030. Zara promotes garment recycling with its Clothes Collection Program, aiming for 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025. Patagonia extends garment lifecycles with its Worn Wear Program and plans to use 100% renewable or recycled materials by 2025.

Adidas turns ocean plastics into apparel and focuses on closed-loop designs like the fully recyclable FUTURECRAFT.LOOP. Uniqlo collects used clothes through Re.Uniqlo and innovates recycling technologies to reduce emissions by 90% by 2030.

The EU has mandated that by 2025, member countries start collecting textiles separately, much like they do with paper, metal, plastic, and glass. This should improve upon the current 22% of textile waste that is collected.

Currently, 70% of textile recycling is mechanical, but this is likely to change with the rise of new chemical recycling companies. Boosting recycling rates will depend on transforming the industry’s entire infrastructure, not just introducing a few new technologies.

The situation is so dire that recycling just 10% of global textile waste seems almost utopian. Even if we manage that, it will still be a drop in the ocean if we continue producing clothing at unsustainable rates – and, unfortunately, this amount is projected to increase in the coming years.

Recycling is only one part of the solution. Our current consumption patterns can’t continue if we aim to create a more sustainable industry. There is a massive amount of over-production, and while there’s much debate about who is responsible for it, the bottom line is that over-production needs to be reduced.

The 100 billion garments produced each year translates to 14 items for every person on Earth. If we can’t convince fashion consumers to stop buying clothes at unsustainable rates, at least we can ensure that as much of what they purchase as possible gets recycled.

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