When Fashion Recycling Speaks Up, Will Fast Fashion ‘Awaken’?

In one of H&M’s grandest stores in Paris, it’s hard to find garments not labeled as made from “recycled materials.” Last year, 79% of the polyester in their collections was made from recycled materials, and next year, the brand hopes all its clothing will be made from such materials.

Summary: Why Can’t Recycling Happen? Where Will Fashion Waste Go After Being Discarded? Solutions for the Fashion Industry

The fast fashion giant from Sweden told AFP that recycled materials allow the “industry to reduce its dependence on virgin polyester made from fossil fuels.” However, the issue lies in the fact that “93% of recycled textiles today come from plastic bottles rather than old clothes,” according to Urska Trunk of the Change Markets campaign group.

Most apparel products are made from Polyester. In other words, while a plastic bottle can be recycled five or six times, a recycled polyester t-shirt “can never be recycled again,” says Trunk.

According to the nonprofit organization Textile Exchange, almost all recycled polyester is made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate—the material used for plastic bottles). In Europe, most textile waste is either dumped or incinerated. Only 22% is recycled or reused—and most of that is turned into insulation, padding, or cleaning cloths.

The European Commission stated: “Less than 1% of textile waste is recycled into new clothing.” According to Lenzing, a renowned Austrian manufacturer of wood-based fibers, recycling textiles “is much more complex than recycling other materials such as glass or paper.”

Why Can’t Recycling Happen? Firstly, clothing made from more than two types of fibers is currently considered unrecyclable. Recyclable clothing must be sorted by color, then remove zippers, buttons, studs, and other materials. This process is often costly and labor-intensive, though pilot projects are beginning to emerge in Europe, says Lisa Panhuber of Greenpeace. However, according to Trunk, this technology is still “in its infancy.”

Reusing cotton seems easier, but if recycled, the quality decreases, requiring us to add other materials. And this leads back to the initial problem: cotton has now become a blend. To address the recycling loop, fashion brands have used recycled plastics from the food industry.

But unfortunately, the beverage industry disagrees with this fashion industry approach and wrote an open letter to the European Parliament last year, accusing the fashion industry of “alarming trends” in its “green statements related to recycled materials.”

According to Lauriane Veillard of the Zero Waste Europe network (ZWE), recycling polyester is a difficult puzzle. She emphasizes that it’s often impure and mixed with other materials like elastane or Lycra, and these substances “hinder all recycling activities.” Jean-Baptiste Sultan of the French non-governmental organization Carbone 4 also criticizes the use of polyester. “From production to recycling, (polyester) pollutes water, air, and soil.”

In fact, environmental advocates have called on the textile industry to stop producing polyester altogether. But this is unlikely to happen because it accounts for over half of their output, according to Textile Exchange.

Where Will Fashion Waste Go After Being Discarded?

So where will mountains of polyester and unrecyclable fabric go after Western consumers donate them to recycling bins? According to data from the European Environment Agency (EEA) from 2019, nearly half of the textile waste collected in Europe will be sent to secondhand markets in Africa or end up in “landfills.”

41% of other textile waste is shipped to Asia, mainly to “specialized economic zones where they are sorted and processed.” The agency said, “Most used textiles are recycled into scraps or industrial filler, or exported for recycling in other Asian countries or for reuse in Africa.”

A new EU regulation passed in November aims to ensure that exported waste is recycled rather than disposed of.

It can be seen that the world is facing mountains of non-degradable and non-consumable fashion waste.

Solutions for the Fashion Industry

Consumer expert Panhuber of Greenpeace emphasizes a horrifying fact that “recycling is a fantasy when it comes to clothing.” However, others are shifting to using new plant fibers, with German brand Hugo Boss using Pinatex made from pineapple leaves for some of its sneaker designs.

But some experts warn that we may fall into another ‘trap’. Thomas Ebele of the SloWeAre label questioned how these non-woven fibers are linked together with polyester or PLA plastic. That means damaged clothes may not be recyclable.

He warns, “Biodegradable does not mean compostable,” noting that some fibers need to be industrially composted. But beyond all that, “the biggest problem is the amount of clothing produced,” says Celeste Grillet of Carbone 4.

For Panhuber and Greenpeace, the solution we can use is to buy fewer clothes. She said, “We need to reduce consumption. Instead of consuming more, we can repair, reuse, and upgrade.”