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The textile industry is wide spread around the world. It is one of the biggest industries as of date.

Worn Again: Recycling Textiles and Fabrics

Fashion Impact on Textile Waste

There has been growing issue of increased textile waste contributing more and more to landfills around the world. Landfills that contain textile waste release toxic chemicals from dyes used in the clothing industry while material decay also contributes to greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, this includes Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), and most notably, Fluorinated gases which are emitted from various industrial processes. The textile industry is also a large contributor to other environmental concerns by using large amounts of resources like water and non renewable energy. Textile waste is having adverse effects on the environment, which adds to the current climate change challenges. Materials like yarn and fabric production are among the most pollution-causing processes of the fashion industry. The textile industry accounts for an estimated 8% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as well as the production of textiles that consumes large quantities of chemicals.

One factor in the industry that is resulting in an increased in waste, is fast fashion. This concept of producing clothing in a very fast pace was developed in order to meet the demands of the consumers who want the latest fashion trends.

Worn Again Technologies

A method by which textile and fabric waste dumping can be mitigated by implementing processes of recycling textiles and fabrics. Worn Again Technologies is a UK based company whose goals and visions is to eradicate textile waste and to circulate resources in the economy. The company would help to mitigate these issues by providing methods for recycling non-recyclable materials found in fabrics and provide alternative renewable paths towards producing new clothes without high energy and resource consumption. It is also interesting to know that they have implemented these methods to address economic, environmental, and social benefits. Their ultimate goal is to “scale and license” their technology to “global plant operators with the help of strategic partners and an expert team”. It is a waste free world resource that brings good to our economy and social environment. They used an advanced technology to recycle materials from non-reusable products. Their mission is to replace the use of virgin resources by recapturing raw materials from non reusable products to get rid of fabric waste and shift this into a circular economy.

Some of the challenges that this organization faces are piles of fabric and plastic around the world. Plastic waste is growing and unused materials of different fabric pieces are being thrown away and less than 1% of this recycling textile turns from non reusable to usable textile. “Using advanced recycling technology their solution is to separate decontaminate and extract polyester” and other advanced recycling to be able to maintain assets back into supply chains.

Recycling Supply Chain and Benefits

There are many benefits to recycling and finding renewable processes for the production of textiles and fabrics, especially when seeing how these ideas can be applied to the socioeconomic aspects of the textile industry. One example of how these processes are being adopted into the industry is in the textile and fabric companies of Brazil. Projects such as COMAS, "Viver de Costura," and AMEBRAS are all promoting ideas of empowering consumers, producers, suppliers, and workers who participate in this movement to reduce the negative impacts of the industry on the environment. A similar shift in the textile can be seen in Nordic countries, where the focus has moved towards finding more renewable and circular methods of producing textiles and fabrics, while diminishing the effects of production and consumption on the environment.

Clothing recycling containers

The efforts of companies like these have shown that these efforts towards reusing and recycling materials are worthwhile and have have found the most success in reusing old textile and fabrics. These practices of companies around the world have shown that recycling and reusing have had successful implementation into the industry and align with the beliefs and goals of the Worn Again company. Many of these ideas follow an overall movement towards zero waste which is a list of principles designed towards analyzing a products lifetime to promote recycling and inhibit waste.

Challenges/Obstacles

There are many obstacles that face the implementation of recycling and renewable materials in the clothing industry including economic viability, availability of renewable textiles, materials used in existing processes for textiles, and technological limitations. Companies would rather produce cheaper and non-recyclable products since it garners the most profit. A majority of the textiles that are recyclable don't get recycled and many materials already being used to produce textiles are non-recyclable. Meanwhile, there are very few technologies like those being used at Worn Again that are available for extracting and storing recyclable materials from existing products.

There are many projects and ideas which are hoping to convince companies to move toward more renewable and recyclable products. These movements incentivize the use of renewable materials while also promoting quality long lasting products that are less likely to be disposed of, in addition to improving methods and practices for recycling fabrics and textiles. Many companies including Nike, Adidas, and Walmart have begun to promise to use polyethylene terephthalate, a more environmentally and recyclable material in their products, in which they hope to move towards a more circular economy and reduce waste.