The practice of clothes recycling is probably as old as spinning and weaving, but it was 1813 when Benjamin Law introduced the first large scale yarn recycling industry. This was mainly based in towns of West Yorkshire and consisted of recovering wool from rags in order to make ‘new’ clothes. This form of clothes recycling tended to produce reusable materials in dull colours which were then often used to make uniforms.
Today there are still about ten ‘rag pulling’ companies in the UK but nowadays clothes recycling often involves passing the clothes onto charities for resale in the UK or use in third world countries. In the UK we sort approximately 250,000 tonnes of textile waste every year and this is sorted into five categories.
The top 5% are described as ‘cream’ or ‘as new’ and are usually sold in charity shops in this country. A further 45% are classified as ‘second hand’ and are sent to third world countries or those experiencing situations resulting in extreme poverty. 25% of clothes recycling goes for fibre reclamation and are made into new clothes or other textiles. 15% of the textiles are used for wiping cloths by various industries and the remaining 10% are actual waste.
It is estimated that 1 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away each year adding to our landfill sites. There are, however, a number of ways you can undertake clothes recycling. Clothes banks are usually situated at your local waste centre or other recycling locations. Alternatively give your second hand clothes to your local charity shop or jumble sale. Many charities also now do door to door collections making it even easier and providing an incentive for that much-needed clear out!
The government is currently working on a Clothing Roadmap which will look at the complete lifecycle of clothing in order to find ways to reduce the environmental and social impact of the textiles industry. For more information visit the DEFRA website
For more information on clothes recycling visit www.wasteonline.org.uk
For further information on Recycling click on the links below
