Why is recycling not the best solution for sustainable fashion?
For fashion brands, using recycled materials to produce clothing always comes with significant challenges.
Whether it’s brands experimenting with new technologies or implementing take-back programs, recycling has become a hot topic in the fashion industry lately. But in reality, less than 1% of clothing is recycled, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Additionally, 12% is “low-grade recycled” into less valuable products like insulation, mattress padding, and cleaning cloths.
With 100 billion pieces of clothing produced globally each year, it makes sense to reuse old clothes and make them new – which is why “upcycling” has become so popular. However, the recycling process, which includes both mechanical and chemical methods, still faces many challenges.
As Laura Balmond, head of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Make Fashion Circular initiative, puts it: "Currently, clothing is not designed to be recycled. The combination of different materials in one product makes it difficult to separate into high-quality fibers. In addition, the chemicals used in the fashion industry also cause many difficulties."
For fashion brands, using recycled materials to produce clothing also comes with significant challenges.
As Kate Riley, head of fibre and synthetics strategy at Textile Exchange, says: “The cost of these recycled materials is often higher than traditional materials, making it difficult for some companies to source them. In addition, ensuring adequate supply of recycled materials is also a significant challenge.”
In an effort to reduce environmental impact, the use of recycled polyester has become an increasingly popular option. However, it is worth noting that 95% of this polyester comes from recycling PET plastic bottles, not from recycling old clothing.
“If the source is PET bottles, then it’s actually a simple recycling system, because it’s relatively easy to recycle plastic bottles into new plastic bottles,” says Phillipa Grogan, sustainability consultant at Eco-Age. “In contrast, recycling polyester is a very complex process.”
Currently, a lack of infrastructure remains a major challenge when it comes to scaling up recycling in the fashion industry. According to Philippa Grogan, sustainability consultant at Eco-Age, while we may have highly recyclable fashion products, without the right infrastructure to send them to the right recycling process, this is a bottleneck. Traditionally, collection and sorting have been done with the intention of reusing, but this is completely different from sorting for recycling.
There is no doubt that scaling up recycling in the fashion industry will require significant investment, and new regulations could also help. The European Union is currently considering the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility, which would see brands take financial responsibility for the collection, sorting and recycling of textiles (this has already been done in countries such as France and Sweden). Grogan notes that, to meet the current pace of change, policy will need to intervene – it may be the only way.
Considering all the current barriers and the sheer volume of clothing being produced, recycling cannot be seen as an easy solution to the fashion industry’s sustainability problems. Instead, keeping clothes around for longer through activities such as resale, rental and repair, as well as reducing the number of clothes consumed, is of utmost importance.
