textile recycling
It started with a couple of bags of clothes on the floor of my bedroom. After a full four-year term I thought in parliament I thought it was about time to clean out the wardrobe. Many of my clothes were bought preloved and the reality is those items often stretch or break down faster, or were simply bought on a whim and a promise to hem or stitch something that I never got around to doing.
Regardless of their journey to my floor, their fate would be the same – typically sorted into piles of ‘sellable, donatable or turn into rags’.
It was the donatable pile that got me into the state I’m in now – a woman who’s spent the best part of two weeks on a deep dive into recycling textiles in Australia… and my mind is a little blown.
Let’s spend a moment defining the problem.
Annually about 37.5 million new pieces of clothing are made in Australia each year. A staggering 1.4 billion pieces of clothing are imported into Australia, on top of the 5.4 billion pieces that are already in circulation in Australia.
On average, every Australian buys 56 items of clothing yearly, and research shows that only half of that gets worn. We have surpassed the US to become the world’s biggest consumer of textiles per capita, much of which is fast fashion that ends up in landfill.
Put simply, we’re buying more clothes and wearing them less often before moving them on from our wardrobes (we will talk about where to in a moment) where they ultimately end up in landfill. Globally, 92 million tons of clothes are thrown away every year – with Australia managing around 300,000 tonnes of clothing waste each year.
And the consequences of this are huge; environmentally and socially
The global fashion industry creates 20 percent of the planet’s total water pollution, and 10 percent of humanity’s carbon emissions making the textile industry the fifth largest contributor of carbon emissions. By 2030 the global clothing and textile industry is expected to use 50 percent more water, emit 63 percent more greenhouse gases and produce 62 percent more waste than it did in 2015 unless we can rapidly turn things around.
The rise of fast fashion particularly has resulted in high demands of cheap clothes, often made from non-sustainable products and in countries that don’t have the same standards of workplace safety and conditions that we do in Australia (just watch a few YouTube shows on the textile trade in Bangladesh and you’ll see what I mean). So we have more clothes being made then ever before, they’re more toxic, less safe, are in landfill where they’re leaching toxins into the earth, affecting water and food supplies often in the countries that can least afford for this to happen.
Now, let’s talk about why donating my clothes was harder than usual.
Usually I simply donate my clothes to a second hand shop. Simple. But as a preloved shopper in the last couple of years volunteers in these shops have shared with me that they’re not able to turn over the volume of clothes they receive. Good quality brand label clothing is moving on certainly, but at a time when you can buy a kid’s t shirt at Kmart for $3.00 most of the clothes donated to charities are simply not getting sold.
A small portion can be donated directly to individuals struggling, but right now nationally, only around 40 percent of the 700 million pieces donated annually in Australia are reused and kept in circulation.
56 percent of the 700 million pieces donated to op shops each year is exported to places like Ghana, Indonesia and Bangladesh and the majority of this goes almost directly into landfill in those countries. Recycling through retail giants like Zara and H&M follow the same process – most items are offshored into countries that don’t have waste systems for textiles and ultimately end up in those oceans, or being burned in incredibly toxic and unsafe ways.
Very few pieces of clothing are genuinely recycled
Just 3.6 percent of items donated are broken down, and made into a new product in Australia.
Australia has very few textile recyclers – and none of them are currently taking clothing, breaking it down and turning it into new clothes. Recyclers currently operate either mechanical or chemical processes to break textiles down and create new products from them. Some products are downcycled into rags, or stuffing for animal beds – while other items are turned into entirely new products like insulation or ‘bricks’.
The technology for closed-loop textile recycling, that is, to take an item of clothing, to break it down and turn it into another piece of clothing doesn’t exist at scale anywhere in the world. For now.
Reform is needed – across all levels
In 2021, clothing textiles were placed on the Federal Minister’s Priority List for Product Stewardship, with industry required to take action to reduce clothing sent to landfill. In 2023, the Hon. Tanya Plibersek MP launched Seamless.
The Seamless scheme is tasked with addressing these critical problems facing the clothing industry in Australia with the goal of creating a circular clothing industry in Australia by 2030. Additionally, members of Seamless will contribute $0.04 for each new garment placed on the Australian market, although my research suggests that figure will have to increase to between $0.50-$0.75 to have the impact needed.
Plibersek issued a clear directive that the scheme would be mandated if not taken up by enough businesses, stating “I want to see industry leadership… But if I don't see enough movement in a year, then I will regulate.”
We as consumers have the power to take back our power
Consumers and producers share this dangerous symbiotic relationship – one that reinforces fast fashion, trend-sensitive purchasing and both of us need to make changes if we’re going to break this cycle. Consumers have a lot of power, if we slow our purchasing down – buy less and wear them longer – that sends a message.
A good start is to purchase thoughtfully. Choose items that fit you, that you love and want to wear, that you can get some decent use out of and that will last. Resist the urge to impulse buy, boycott Shein and Temu.
Look for clothing that is recyclable-friendly. Natural fibers like cotton, linen, hemp or Tencel.
Care for your clothes! Wash them gently in cold water, air dry them where you can.
If you are getting rid of clothes consider renting, trading or swapping. The same for one-off items you need – there are now a tonne of people renting their clothes in our area so find someone that has your style and size and get to know them.
Consider joining up with neighbours for a garage sale, or get involved in one of Brisbane’s clothes swaps or sales (we have a fantastic clothing market in Milton on every Sunday).
If an item is damaged, consider how you could repair it. The Repair Café in The Gap has a seamstress that can help, and slow fashion warriors like Brisbane-based Jane Milburn run workshops on how to repair or even upcycle clothes.
Often we buy more because we don’t know how to style what we have. There are people out there who can help you with a wardrobe audit, and to help you see your existing clothes with a fresh set of eyes.
For items that are stained, damaged or stretched consider how else you could use them. Turning them into rags, replenishing the stuffing in toys or your pet’s bed or even using creating coiled baskets (Pinterest has some great ideas and instructions!)
Here are the textile recycler’s I’d recommend right now
Upparral – mechanical recycling of most textiles. You can book a 10kg or 20kg box to fill with all kinds of items including shoes, socks, swimwear and wetsuits, materials are recycled into a range of products. There is a small fee involved – but the reality is there are costs associated with managing waste so I can justify that.
Tread Lightly - is a national recycling initiative that takes unwanted sport and active lifestyle footwear and responsibly recycles it to give it new life, turning the rubber into products like flooring. Local drop off points for us are Frankie4 Footwear, the Athlete’s Foot, Rebel Sport and Nike stores.
BlockTexx – sole scale chemical recycler in Australia operating an end-to-end ecosystem for unwanted textiles and clothing. These guys are an exciting company based in Logan and while they’re not taking any public post-consumer clothing they do get operate the Give a Sheet® for the Planet events (where bedding can be donated). These events are run in partnership with council’s. Currently Brisbane City Council is not participating in this, so a great idea would be to reach out to Council and ask them why not.
References:
https://www.marketingmag.com.au/tech-data/australians-are-wearing-half-of-whats-in-their-wardrobes/