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How the waste hierarchy pyramid is applicable to textiles

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The waste hierarchy pyramid is a is a set of 5 or 6 priorities for the efficient use of resources. It can be easily implemented by the textile industry

Comparing types of textiles recycling

Textiles recycling

choosing between chemical and mechanical textiles recycling depends on the type of fiber and whether the textile is blended or not.

Mechanical recycling of textiles is fairly common!

recycled cotton

Mechanical recycling is often used to recycle natural textiles. It can be used for synthetic textiles, but the waste stream is rarely textiles.

Chemical recycling separates blended textiles!

Textile sorting for recycling

Chemical recycling is a solution to recycle textile waste and create new textiles. Innovative companies have solutions to textiles being dumped in landfills

Do recycled fibers from plastic support a New Textiles Economy?

Recycled plastic

Recycled fibers from plastic bottles and fishing nets do not necessarily support the New Textiles Economy because textiles are not used as the waste source.

Fiber recycling using mechanical and chemical processes

baled textile waste for fiber recycling

Recycling is the act of taking waste and making it into a new material that has value, thereby preventing that waste from entering the landfill. Many different materials can, and SHOULD be recycled, including plastics, paper, metals etc.  Creating new fibers from textile waste closes the loop and supports the circular economy. Recycled fibers can be […]

Ways to increase textile recycling

Textile recycling

Recycling old textiles into new textiles is one way of reducing waste. However, scaling textile recycling will require coordination between designers, buyers, collectors and recyclers. I have written about how to increase clothing utilization, a strategy that is preferable to buying clothes and recycling them at the end of their useful life. However, recycling is […]

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