Textile waste in the United States has increased by 78 per cent in less than 20 years, while the waste stream as a whole grew 10 per cent in that period, according to a white paper ‘Textile Recovery in the U.S.: A Roadmap to Circularity’ released recently by Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), which said only 15 percent of textile waste is diverted from landfills.

Action is needed to change consumption, reduce the impact on the environment, and develop models to recover these materials, said Marisa Adler, RRS consultant and lead author of the white paper.

The white paper analyses potential causation of the increasing textile waste issue including fast fashion and fibre composition.

The paper suggests a way forward to build a new textile recovery system that includes facets of re-commerce, automated sorting and mechanical and advanced recycling technologies, according to a company press release.

“As evidenced by recent global economic and market disruptions from events like China’s National Sword and COVID-19, the business case for more reliable, transparent, and domestically powered supply chains is stronger than ever. It is critically important that brands, retailers, manufacturers, suppliers, consumers, and the emerging textile reuse and recovery value chain come together and take steps forward with the technical, business, and financial resources to get the job done,” RRS chief executive officer Jim Frey wrote in the paper’s preface.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, RRS is a sustainability and recycling consulting firm that strives to create a world where resources are managed to maximise economic and social benefit while minimising environmental harm.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

Disclaimer - All News/Articles items are subject to copyright and no article either in full or part may be reproduced in any form without permission from Fibre2Fashion Pvt. Ltd.