A new report from Fashion for Good’s Sorting for Circularity lays out a path to expand fiber-to-fiber recycling in the US, while brands participating in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Fashion Remodeling initiative are exploring ways to make money without making new clothes.
Report: $1.5 billion opportunity in sorting for fiber-to-fiber recycling in the U.S.
Image courtesy: Cottonbro Studio
On Wednesday, Fashion for Good released the “Sorting for Circularity USA” report, the first to take an in-depth look at consumer waste behavior, the composition of textile waste, and the potential for expanding fiber-to-fiber recycling in the U.S. The report provides key insights to make informed decisions about further investments, infrastructure development, and next steps towards circularity.
Understanding the U.S. Textile Waste Landscape
The United States leads the world in both textile consumption and waste generation, and is one of the largest suppliers of secondary post-consumer textile materials. Yet, only 15 percent of textile waste generated in the United States is currently collected, with 85 percent being disposed of in landfills or incinerators.
With policies coming into force in the European Union and some US states, as well as ongoing efforts in both the public and private sectors to increase fiber-to-fiber recycling, demand for infrastructure related to post-consumer fiber collection, sorting and recycling is growing. So Sorting for Circularity USA set out to identify current gaps and opportunities to fill them.
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“The US Sorting for Circularity Project addresses a key challenge for the textile industry: turning textile waste into a valuable resource,” said Katrin Ray, managing director of Fashion for Good. “The project explores the relationship between consumer behavior, waste generation and available recycling technologies. The goal is to establish a system that puts all textiles to good use and minimizes waste.”
Launched in January 2023 by Fashion for Good and Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Sorting for Circularity USA aims to provide critical insights into strategic decision-making to advance circularity in the fashion value chain.
The project includes Fashion for Good’s brand partners adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co. and Target, as well as external partners Eastman, H&M Group, Lululemon, New York State Center for Sustainable Materials Management (NYS CSMM) and Nordstrom, as well as key project delivery partners including the Secondary Materials and Recycled Fibers (SMART) Association, Goodwill Industries International, Helpsy and United Southern Waste.
The Circular Sorting Framework, jointly introduced by Fashion for Good and Circle Economy in 2021, will form the basis of the project, which will utilise Matoha’s near-infrared (NIR) technology to assess the composition of textile waste and identify fibre-to-fibre recycling potential.
Addressing data gaps
To establish a functional reverse supply chain and the necessary infrastructure, the report identified two key areas where data is lacking: consumer waste behavior and material properties of post-consumer textile products. The Sorting for Circularity USA project addressed these gaps through a comprehensive national consumer survey and waste composition analysis.
A survey of 1,200 US adults revealed that 60% of respondents repurpose textiles (e.g. donate, resell, give to family or friends) and 4% discard them. Reasons for discarding include factors such as condition and fit, as well as not knowing what is acceptable for donation/reuse/recycle and doubts about whether the textiles are actually being reused or recycled. Meanwhile, a waste composition analysis revealed that over 56% of post-consumer textiles are suitable for textile-to-textile recycling. The most common textile types are cotton and polyester, indicating that these textiles have great potential to be used as feedstocks for mechanical and chemical recycling processes.
“This study provides legitimate insights into two parts of the recovery value chain with little to no existing data: first, how consumers decide what to do with their unwanted textiles, and second, the fiber composition of post-consumer textiles,” said Marisa Adler, senior consultant at RRS. “These new findings can help strengthen collection systems to recover more textiles, calculate the economic viability of textile recycling, and develop supportive, data-driven policies. We look forward to continuing to build on this research to further advance textile circularity.”
The road to a circular fibre future
The project identified a $1.5 billion opportunity for fiber-to-fiber recycling by redirecting non-rewearable textiles from landfills and incinerators into recycling streams. The report outlines strategies for growth of the U.S. textile recycling industry, emphasizing improved efficiency, increased commodity value, and increased financial value through policy mechanisms such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs. Collaboration between stakeholders including brands, governments, retailers, consumers, collectors, sorters, recyclers, and financial institutions is essential to advocate for supportive policies and incentives to promote circularity, invest in research and development, and drive innovation. Redirecting textiles to recycling highlights the significant economic potential of embracing textile circularity.
Fashion for Good says that with these insights, there is an opportunity to assess the feasibility of different sorting business models and (semi-)automated sorting technologies to create a demonstration facility suitable for closed-loop textile recycling, and finally to evaluate the commercial and technical feasibility of a semi-automated sorting process and identify investment opportunities to scale up the solution on a national scale.
Apparel brands have begun to remodel fashion to make it more circular.
Images/Photos Courtesy of Arc’Teryx
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, some of the world’s leading fashion brands signed up to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s (EMF) “Fashion Remodeling” initiative to explore ways to make money without making new clothes.
Launched at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, Fashion Remodel brings together a group of industry pioneers, including high street, luxury brands and other industry players, with the aim of making circular business models the norm.
Initial participants in the project include Arc’teryx, ARKET, COS, H&M Group, Primark, Reformation, Weekday and Zalando. The project will identify solutions and opportunities to start decoupling revenue from new garment production, advancing the long-term goal of achieving a circular economy for fashion.
“We’re looking forward to working with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation again,” said Leila Elter, head of sustainability at H&M Group. “The opportunities to be gained from decoupling the fashion industry’s growth from its resource use are enormous, and this project will help us better understand how to further scale this model.”
Despite continued increased consumer engagement in conscious consumption and initiatives to scale up textile recycling, such as Fashion for Good, the fashion industry still operates primarily on a “take-make-dispose” model, with millions of tonnes of clothing being produced, worn and discarded each year.
Circular business models such as rental, resale, repair and remake are designed to keep products in use. A recent EMF study estimated that circular business models could account for 23% of the global fashion market by 2030, creating a $700 billion opportunity to transform the future of fashion.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation hopes that “Fashion Remodeled” will be the starting point for enlisting the support of fashion industry policymakers to change the way business is done.
“Through their participation in Fashion Remodel, the group is taking another step towards a circular economy for fashion,” said Jules Lennon, EMF fashion leader. “To challenge traditional linear models and create a new normal, brands must accelerate their efforts to redesign the products of the future and decouple revenue from production by rethinking the services and business models that get products to customers and keep them in use.”
“The fashion industry is rooted in innovation, and we welcome company-led efforts towards a world where clothes are used again and again and integrated into more people’s lives, rather than worn once and then discarded.”
The Foundation believes that the learnings and experiences shared from Fashion Remodeling will pave the way towards a more resilient fashion industry. It follows EMF’s Jeans Redesign project, which runs from 2019 to 2023 and challenged participants to rethink wardrobe staples to fit into the circular economy. Findings from the project showed that further action is needed to build on the redesign of products and transform the systems they enter and the infrastructure that delivers and keeps them in use.
“Arc’Teryx is committed to a circular future, building products that last and equipping our customers with the tools and education to keep using their gear,” said Dominique Showers, vice president of ReBIRD at Arc’Teryx. “We’re thrilled to be one of the first participants in The Fashion ReModel, an Ellen MacArthur Foundation demonstration project to reimagine circularity in the outdoor industry and rethink how we approach design and waste to build a future where everything we make can have a second life.”
Release date: May 23, 2024 at 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST
Sustainable Brand Staff
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