Textile Recycling

Textile Recycling

Textiles describes items made from fabric such as sheets, curtains and clothing. These items can be made from different sorts of fibres, for example animal fibres such as wool or silk; vegetable fibres like cotton or linen; or mineral which are man-made or synthetic fibres, for example lycra, nylon or polyester.

In the UK, we throw away 3/4 million tonnes of textiles a year. At present it is estimated that 6% (by weight) of the domestic waste stream consists of textiles. The recycling of textile materials in the production of woollen fabric can mean an energy saving of up to 50%.

Of all collected textiles 38% is used as second hand clothing, 21% is made into cloths for wiping, 19% is used as stuffing, 12% has its fibres reclaimed and made into something new, 6% gets thrown away and 4% is used again as second hand shoes.

Most UK clothing material is collected using the bank system and from charity shops, and some is collected door-to-door. There is still a market for second hand clothing in the UK but this is being stretched more and more as clothing levels for export to Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East have risen. Many sorting operations have been forced to move their businesses abroad to remain competitive, and here in the UK the problems have also been confounded over recent years by the mushrooming of cheap clothing shops. This has had the effect of discouraging people from buying second hand textiles, and because of the lower quality of cheaper clothing the standard of textiles coming through into the second hand market has dropped.

Helping the environment

Clothing put into the dustbin will end up either going to landfill or being burnt in an incinerator. It is estimated that in the UK our clothing has approximately 70% of its useful life left when we actually throw it away, so it makes no sense at all to put it in the rubbish bin. It’s well known that the chemicals used to dye clothing can cause contamination to the watershed – another good reason to recycle rather than throw away. The energy required to produce a tonne of textiles is ten times more than the amount of energy required to make a tonne of glass.
Recycling cloth and textiles saves energy and reduces pollution caused by transportation, and in particular, recycling really helps by saving water, which is used in large quantity to wash and treat raw cloth.

Helping the economy

Job creation and support rather than ‘hand outs’ significantly improve both local and national economies. And so with textile recycling the UK national and local economies receive a boost as many hundreds of regular fully recompensed jobs are created.

Textile Specifications:

Specifications for bag collections from UK charities:

These are generally known as “charity rags”.

The textiles picked up from shops should be donated from UK sources, not from imported clothing brought into UK by the charity, nor from landfill sites or rummage sales.

These should be lots of mixed UK donated clothing: household textiles and wearable paired shoes left over after retail sales from the charity shops.

All should be clean and dry, and should exclude pillows, duvets, carpets, balls and cones of wool, off-cuts from manufacturing process and unfinished garments, hard toys, books and bric-a-brac, coat hangers, sharp objects and single odd shoes.

The mix should reflect all the categories sold, for example – shirts, dresses, jackets and so on. The usual composition should not be changed due to bulk sales of particular items (e.g. cotton clothing sold as cleaning rags) unless specifically agreed with the merchant.

Packing: water-resistant sacks (e.g. polythene) at a weight convenient for shop handling, storage and collection, usually 8 – 10 kg unless specifically agreed that an alternative packing method is more suitable, such as hessian sacks for shoes.

Used textiles, shoes and handbags should all be packed separately.

Charity shoes should all be paired, tied together or fastened with an elastic band, wearable and not be broken or have any holes.

Specifications for purchase of rags for conversion into wiping cloths:
The grades reflect those recovered on a regular basis by British merchants. British specifications also ask that no material should be soiled.

General requirements:
Moisture content and tensile strength
All rags supplied to manufacturers must be dry and be of strong texture.
Cleanliness
All material must be commercially clean.
Used wipers No rag which has been reclaimed from use as an industrial wiper shall be included in any grade.

All material must be of a size to produce a wiper of not less than 23cm x 30cm.

• Specifications by grade:
• White wipers No 1 – Light weight cotton-rich woven material, commercially clean. No silk, wool nylon or other synthetics.
• White wipers No 2 – Medium weight cotton-rich material, commercially clean. No silk, wool nylon.
• Light and dark print – Light weight cotton-rich material, commercially clean. No silk, wool or knitted synthetics.
• Coloured wiper – Medium weight material, commercially clean. No silk, wool or knitted synthetics.
• Hosiery – Light and medium weight knitted cotton material, commercially clean. No silk, wool or knitted synthetics.
• Candlewick – Mixed white and coloured tufted all cotton material made in the form of bedspreads or bathrobes. Must be free of bath mats or heavy material.
• Hosiery – Light and medium weight knitted cotton material commercially clean. No silk, wool or knitted synthetics.
• Towels: white or coloured – 100% cotton towels or bathrobes, commercially clean. No synthetic material.
• Blue or white polycotton workwear – Must be commercially clean. Must not contain heavily soiled/stained material such as paint or solder. No jackets.
• Blue or white cotton workwear – Must be commercially clean and must not contain heavily soiled/stained material. No jackets.