May 9th 2026
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WellBeing Magazine
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Ethical textile and clothing disposal is complex. Discover the innovations driving circular fashion forward.
Among areas of consumerism that are arousing concern, one that particularly stands out is clothing, accelerated by the modern phenomenon of ultra-fast fashion. It has been estimated that the global textile industry represents five to 10 per cent of the world’s greenhouse emissions.
Somewhere between 80–150 billion garments are produced annually, which translates to between 10–18 new garments per person on the planet. Australians are one of the world’s largest consumers of clothing, with an average of 53 new items per person purchased per year, totalling about 15kg, or 27kg if all textiles are included. For New Zealand, the figures are similar.
Ultra-fast fashion and clothing waste
Today most clothing purchases are from fast-fashion retailers, whose offerings are expected to be worn a limited number of times. This is coupled with a more recent trend towards poorer-quality items. Ultra-fast fashion, dominated by the Chinese giant Shein, increasingly dominates. The combined effect of cheap prices, large volumes and short lifespans is turbocharging the quantity of unwanted clothing and textile resources to reuse or dispose of.
Clothing purchases returned to retailers, either online or with a physical presence, is driving a surprising amount of waste. Manual sorting of returned garments based on their condition is labour-intensive, and a lot goes to landfill.
Globally, it has been estimated that 92 million tonnes of textile waste are generated annually, which is the equivalent of about one garbage truck per second going to landfill or incineration. This is the fate of about 85 per cent of unwanted textiles worldwide. Synthetics, which are made from fossil fuel-derived plastic and represent about 60 per cent of purchases, release toxic chemicals in landfill, while natural fibres break down releasing methane, which is a significant contributor to climate change.
With richer countries awash in unwanted clothing, unsurprisingly a substantial quantity of it is sent overseas. This is in the form of bales that are supposedly intended for resale, yet it’s estimated that as much as 40 per cent goes unsold as a result of poor quality. This in turn creates a vast waste stream in locations that lack the facilities to manage it responsibly. Two such hotspots are Accra, the capital of Ghana, and the Atacama Desert in Chile.
A circular clothing economy
The traditional manufacturing paradigm is a linear one with a raw material at one end and some form of waste at the other. In recent years, advances have been made in restructuring this towards a circular model.
The best circular economy strategy for clothing is to make it last longer, usually measured by the number of wears before it is disposed of. In affluent countries, the average number of wears for garments is estimated to be between seven and 10, and likely falling. In response, an initiative called the #30wearschallenge encourages a shiftin behaviour.
One of the most radical things anyone can do in the field of clothing and textiles (and for other consumer items too) is to repair. Some companies offer repairs and alterations at a cost. These include Zara, Uniqlo (but not in Australia or New Zealand), RCYCL, Hello Tailr (which offer online/mail-in services in Australia) and many small local repairs and alterations businesses. Both Patagonia and Nudie Jeans stand out for doing free repairs, including in Australia and New Zealand. Learning home-mending skills with a sewing machine is the ideal.
When disposing of clothes, reuse is the very best option. Because a sizeable fraction of the average wardrobe is never worn, there are environmental advantages to keeping unwanted garments circulating around the giftand money economies instead of gathering dust. Buying second-hand and non-purchase alternatives such as clothing hire has numerous environmental benefits.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), also known as product stewardship, is an arrangement, usually underpinned by regulation, where a manufacturer takes responsibility for its products at the end of their life. This can involve reuse, repair or recycling. Systems are already in existence in Hungary, Latvia, France and the Netherlands, and are being rolled out in California and across the EU.
In 2024, the Australian Fashion Council responded to government pressure to address the problem of clothing waste by launching a voluntary initiative called Seamless that has most large retailers signed up. It works via a four-cent levy on each garment placed on the Australian market. This money goes into improving design to make clothing more durable and recyclable, developing new circular business models and expanding collection, sorting and recycling. Its goal is to achieve a circular textile industry by 2030. New Zealand has no similar initiative, but work is occurring behind the scenes on developing a model.
The reuse path
In a circular economy, reuse is near the top of the league table for environmental desirability. One common route for unwanted clothes is to drop offa bag or two at a nearby op shop. However, op shops are being overwhelmed by surging volumes of clothing donations, and it is common for them to suspend donations. Where donations are accepted, members of the public are encouraged to only give items that they would give a friend as a present. Landfill fees are a drain on op shop profits, and clothing is a contributor.
Of the clothing that op shops receives, around 15 per cent is sold in-store. Some is sent overseas to be sold, or possibly not, and some is downcycled by being turned into rags. On average, roughly another 15 per cent is tossed by the shop.
However, op shops are among a wide range of choices for giving clothing a second life, and it is helpful to keep some of the others in mind:
- Sell online, via platforms such as eBay, Depop or Facebook Marketplace.
- Sell to second-hand or vintage clothing shops or leave on consignment.
- Display at a “rent a rack” store.
- Give to a friend who is likely to be the right size.
- Try Buy Nothing email groups such as Freecycle and Pay it Forward groups on social media.
- Visit clothes swap events.
- Organise a clothes swap with friends. In Australia and New Zealand, the second-hand clothing sector is experiencing healthy growth.
Take-back programs run by fashion giants
Fashion giants H&M and Zara run programs in all their stores involving collection bins that accept clothing and textiles of any brand. (Zara accepts footwear and accessories too.) Other similar initiatives are run in a limited number of countries by companies such as Primark and Mango.
Concerns have been raised by such take-back schemes. Trackers placed on clothing donated to several retailers have revealed that some items in good condition were downcycled rather than reused, suggesting that the volumes being handled are too great to sort effectively. Some has been resold, kept in storage limbo, shipped to Africa or incinerated for energy recovery. These outcomes are likely to be disappointing when measured against the expectations of customers doing the recycling.
Others such as Nike, Uniqlo, Levi’s, The North Face, Kathmandu and Patagonia accept drop-offs of their own-branded pre-loved clothes, which are directed to resale platforms, donated or recycled in sometimes unspecified ways.
Some better alternatives
A number of companies accept clothing (and sometimes textiles, shoes or accessories too) on a pay-to-recycle basis, usually either via home collection or mail-in boxes or satchels. The economics of this arrangement unfortunately leads many people and small businesses to dump them in the garbage as a cheaper alternative.
These companies include UPPAREL, RCYCL, Textile Recyclers Group (in Australia) and After (in Australia and Auckland, NZ.) They are geared towards unwearable items and, as a rule, clothes can be in any condition including lightly stained, but please wash before sending off . Most do not accept underwear, but an exception in Australia is Textile Recyclers Group. Generally, these recyclers achieve better environmental outcomes than the retail giants and minimise landfill or avoid it altogether.
Two other similar companies called the SCR Group and e-Thread have widespread clothing bins where donations can be dropped off , avoiding pay-to-recycle charges.
For bedding items in good condition, they can be donated to op shops that accept them. In non-saleable condition, blankets and towels can sometimes be passed on to a local vet for reuse. Australian retailer Sheridan accepts any brand of pre-loved and washed quilt covers, pillowcases, sheets and towels in its stores, in exchange for a small discount offer. The Australian initiative Give a Sheet for the Planet partners with local councils to run collection drives targeting all of the above, plus linen. Both this and the bedding from Sheridan are passed on to the Australian clothing recycler BlockTexx, which has pioneered a closed-loop technology for recycling old items into new clothing.
Downcycling
When clothing is actually recycled, this usually involves downcycling, a term for recycling into a product of lower value or quality. Examples include garments being cut into cleaning rags and old denim used in ceiling insulation batts. While this is not as environmentally preferable as reusing, or recycling old clothing into new clothing, it does avoid the need for virgin feedstocks for some products where waste materials can be used instead. Some industries around the world include:
- In New Zealand, ImpacTex is turning waste clothing into foam panels that are used for acoustic panelling, packaging, signage and other purposes. UPPAREL makes its similar product UPtex at the same facility.
- A partner of ImpacTex is New Zealand textile waste remanufacturer Textile Products, which makes wadding, insulation products, geotextiles, underlays and removal blankets.
- Circa Group in Norway manufactures a solvent called Cyrene from cellulose-based clothing waste.
- In Berlin, Re-fresh Global produces nanocellulose, bio-ethanol and fibre rolls from unwanted clothing. The fibre can be used for products such as car seat upholstery and acoustic panels.
- In Australia, Veena Sahajwalla is converting discarded clothing, with added ingredients such as broken glass, into ceramic-like tiles that have about 80 per cent recycled content.
The holy grail: textile-to-textile recycling
As technology has advanced, new industrial-scale methods are being devised for recycling old clothing into new clothing in a closed-loop process. New garments can often be made from 100 per cent recycled, or a blend of virgin and recycled. Examples include:
- Textile Recyclers Group turns waste polyester into yarn in a mechanical process that involves cleaning, shredding and re-spinning.
- Renewcell in Sweden has a large industrial facility where textile waste pulp is converted into a range of regenerated cellulose fibre (RCF) textiles that are collectively known as Circulose.
- In the US, Circ is producing a type of RCF Lyocell, plus a type of regenerated polyester, both from polycotton blends.
- The Italian-based circular economy clothing company Aquafil uses closed-loop chemical recycling to produce a recycled nylon called Econyl that is used for clothing production, among other uses.
- The city of Prato in Italy is a clothing manufacturing centre with a recycling culture going back to the mid-19th century. Several companies use recycled wool, which can be turned by machinery back into fibre. Sorting it by colour minimises the need for later dyeing.
In Australia, BlockTexx has been doing some pioneering work in textile-to-textile recycling. It recovers materials from polyester, cotton, polycotton blends, RCF and blends of these. Using chemical processes, it produces recycled polyester (PolyTexx) and microcrystalline cellulose (CellTexx.)
Waste polyester is heated, liquefied and converted to PET pellets that are later used by the clothing and plastics industries. Partnering with Asia Pacific Fibres, an Indonesian-based polyester manufacturer, has yielded a product range called Re-petitive, made from 10–50 per cent post-consumer polyester textile waste. Natural fibres are converted to a cellulose clay that is used in agriculture and construction.
Tackling overconsumption
While clothing recycling is a big step forward, ultimately the most pressing issue is to tackle the problem of overconsumption and to address the behavioural influences that lead many people to buy far more garments than they need.
It has even been proposed that anti-consumption influencers could be active on social media, putting forward a perspective that challenges consumerist messaging.
Resources
Seamless Australia: seamlessaustralia.com
Fashion for Good: fashionforgood.com
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