What really happens to clothes put in charity and textile recycling bins?

What really happens to clothes put in charity and textile recycling bins?

Putting unwanted clothes in a charity or textile recycling bin can feel like a simple way to keep them out of the bin. But what happens to those clothes afterwards is more complicated than many people realise.

In the UK, donated and unwanted clothing can be reused, resold, exported or recycled, depending on its condition and the materials it contains. Some garments that cannot be reused are difficult to recycle, while clothes sent overseas may eventually become waste.

This matters because textile waste is a growing environmental problem. Global textile production increased from around 50 million tonnes in 2000 to 109 million tonnes in 2020, according to the European Parliament, and is projected to reach 145 million tonnes by 2030.

What happens after clothes are collected?

Used clothing is collected from charity shops, textile recycling bins, donation centres and directly from consumers.

In the UK, collected textiles are sorted according to factors including their material, colour and condition. Garments that are clean and undamaged may be suitable for reuse. Others may be sent for recycling or another form of processing.

Some reusable clothing is exported to countries in Africa and Asia, where it can enter second-hand markets. But not all exported clothing is suitable for resale. Traders in countries including Ghana have raised concerns about receiving large quantities of unwanted clothing that cannot be sold and can ultimately become waste.

One textile sorter and processor in the East Midlands told me that around 40% of the garments it sorted were not suitable for reuse and needed a recycling solution.

The scale of textile waste is also being driven by the rapid growth of clothing production, particularly the production of inexpensive, short-lived garments.

Reuse is not the same as recycling

Putting a wearable garment in a charity shop or selling it through a second-hand platform gives it an opportunity for another life. This is reuse.

Fibre-to-fibre recycling is different. It involves breaking clothing down so that its fibres or constituent materials can be used to make new textiles.

There are two main approaches: mechanical and chemical recycling.

How does mechanical textile recycling work?

Mechanical recycling physically breaks clothing down into smaller pieces, rather like shredding paper.

The material can be treated with water and then passed through machines that separate and straighten the fibres. A process called carding combs the fibres so they can be processed into a material suitable for making new products.

The problem is that this process can shorten and damage fibres. Shorter fibres produce weaker yarn, which limits the quality and types of products that can be made.

Mechanically recycled fibres are therefore often combined with virgin fibres. The longer new fibres can add strength and improve the quality of the resulting yarn.

How does chemical recycling work?

Chemical recycling takes a different approach. Instead of relying mainly on mechanical processing, chemicals are used to separate and purify the materials in clothing.

For some textiles, chemical solvents can break down polymers, remove dyes and separate other additives. The resulting material can then potentially be processed into fibres and spun into new yarn.

This approach could help overcome some of the limitations of mechanical recycling, particularly for materials that are difficult to recycle mechanically.

However, chemical recycling also has environmental and technical challenges. The chemicals and processes involved need to be carefully managed, and some recycling processes can generate emissions or other pollutants.

Why can't all clothes simply be recycled?

Clothing is not made from one material. Garments can contain mixtures of cotton, polyester, elastane, dyes, coatings and other components.

These combinations can make recycling more difficult. Even when a fibre can technically be recovered, producing a recycled material of sufficient quality and at a competitive cost can be challenging.

Mechanical recycling, for example, can produce shorter fibres. Chemical recycling can require complex processes, solvents and energy.

This means recycling alone cannot solve the problem of textile waste.

Designing clothes for recycling

One way to reduce textile waste is to consider recycling at the design stage.

Clothes designed with fewer materials and components that can be more easily separated could be simpler to recycle at the end of their useful life. This is part of the idea of a circular economy, in which materials remain in use for as long as possible rather than becoming waste.

Research into green chemistry and circular design could make textile recycling more effective and reduce some of its environmental impacts.

But technology has limits. If more clothes continue to be produced and discarded, recycling systems will have to deal with increasing volumes of waste.

What can we do with unwanted clothes?

Recycling has a role to play, but keeping clothes in use for longer can avoid the need for recycling in the first place.

As consumers, we can:

• Buy fewer clothes and consider whether we are likely to wear them regularly.
• Look after the clothes we already own so they last longer.
• Repair damaged garments rather than automatically replacing them.
• Donate or resell clothes that are still wearable.
• Use textile recycling schemes for garments that genuinely cannot be reused.

The next time you put a bag of clothes into a charity or textile recycling bin, it is worth remembering that this is not necessarily the end of their journey. What happens next depends on the garment, the materials it contains and whether there is a viable market or technology for giving those materials another use.

The longer-term challenge is not simply finding better ways to recycle clothes. It is reducing unnecessary textile waste and designing a system in which clothing and its materials can stay in use for longer.