• Textile Recycling

•
Textile industry is among the most essential consumer
goods industry. We all need garments and other
textile products such as footwear and bags etc.
However, textile industry is also accused of being one of
the most polluting industry. Not only production but
consumption of textiles also produce waste. To counter
the problem, textile industry has taken many measures
for reducing its negative contribution towards
environment. One of such measures is textile recycling-
the reuse as well as reproduction of fibers from textile
waste.
 Sources of Textile Waste
• Majority of textile waste comes from household sources.
Average lifetime of any clothing is deemed to be for about
3 years, after which, they are thrown away as old clothes.

• Textile waste also arise during yarns and fabric

manufacturing, apparel-making processes and from the
retail industry. They are the post-industrial waste.

• PET bottles etc. are also used for recycling polyester

fiber.
• It is estimated that in UK more than 1 million
tones of textiles are thrown away every year,
with most of this coming from household
sources.
• At least 50% of the textiles we throw away are
recyclable,
• the proportion of textile wastes reused or
recycled annually in the UK is only around 25%. 
• Textile Waste in the UK has risen from 7% of
total waste to 30st%in the last five years,
according to EcoTextileNews.
• If every Briton
purchased one item
made from recycled
wool a year it would
save 371 million
gallons of water, 480
tonnes of chemical
dyes
 Textile Waste
• Textiles can be made from 3 main types of
materials.

• Man-Made fibres do not decompose in landfill

as they are usually made from oil, just like
plastics.
• Natural fibres from animals and plants
decompose in landfill to produce methane.
which contributes to global warming.
 Why Textile Recycling!
• Pressure on fresh resources too is reduced.
• Leads to balance of payments as we buy fewer materials
for our requirements.
• As fibers get locally available, they don't have to be
transported from abroad thus reducing pollution and
saving energy.
• Lesser energy is consumed while processing, as items
don't need to be re-dyed or scoured.
• Waste water reduces as it does not have to be
thoroughly washed with large volumes of water as it is
done for, say, raw wool.
• Demand is reduced for textile chemicals like dyes and
fixing agents.
 FACTS
• Textile is one of the industry that exorcise maximum pollution to
mother nature and the recent buzz is the abuse of chemicals, in the
form of fertilizers and pesticides, that has caused a downbeat on the
health of animals, human and the general ecological balance as
well, apart from the fact that they are very pricey. Also, Cotton
production alone uses about 25% of the world insecticides.  large 
quantities  of chemicals are  being  used to increase  the production 
and productivity,  with  a least  concern about the  harmful  effects 
induced  onto  the  next  generation. The WHO report points out,
that every year 20,000farmers die because of insecticides and their
harmful effects. Cotton being a very fertilizer dependant crop, has
an undisclosed fact: that 65% of the chemicals used during
cultivation enter both directly and indirectly into our food chain,
which is highly agonizing.
 Helping the environment
• ¨       Our life style is based so much on
convenience and fashion that we don't notice
how it is having a bad effect on our environment.
• ¨       When clothes are thrown into the dust bin
they either end up at the rubbish tip or are burnt
in an incinerator, neither makes sense when you
realise that generally our clothes when we've
finished with them still have at least 70% of their
useful life left.
   
  Lastly it takes ten times more energy to make a
tonne of textiles than it does a tonne of glass.
Most of us recycle our glass, so why not our
clothes?
• The UK government has legislation in place that
places a mandatory duty on local authorities to
recycle 33% of the rubbish we throw away by
2015. In most counties the percentage is under
10 % in the beginning of 2006.