Zero waste – why textiles are hardly ever recycled
Only one percent of used textiles worldwide are recycled. There is a lack of sorting and recycling facilities to turn old clothes into yarn for new textiles. The technologies do exist – but only on an experimental scale.
According to the UN Environment Programme, global textile production doubled between 2000 and 2015. 92 million tons of textile waste are produced worldwide every year. That is the equivalent of a truck landing with old clothes every second. Only around one percent of this is recycled.
