Will separate collection of textile waste from 2025 onwards lead to circularity? Follow the long journey ahead.
This massive pile of clothing was erected in Prague, to symbolize the amount of textile waste generated by an average family over their lifetime. It weighs a whopping four tons!
I am seeking to uncover,
- How the European textile waste industry, already under immense strain, would deal with more collected textiles without systemic improvements?
- Would the sorting facilities currently facing workforce shortages, rising costs, and low off-take demand, eventually benefit from higher demand for sorting?
- Or the separately collected textiles would be stockpiled, disposed or exported to countries without sufficient infrastructure?
Separate collection’s success depends on parallel investments in the complete infrastructure: Reuse > Refurbishment > Recycling
It’s a positive step, a beginning to the long journey of circularity. What’s your take on the Separate Collection of Textiles?
