Textiles are manufactured to perform a wide range of functions and are made up of different types of fibres mixed in varying proportions. While the textile industry has a long history of being thrifty with its resources, a large proportion of unnecessary waste is still produced each year, much of which is either incinerated or disposed of in landfill. Textile wastes take many forms and are often complex in nature due to the range of manufacturing specifications required. Complex mixtures of fibres make separation more difficult and more costly, and this has implications for the profitability of textile recycling.

The two main fibre types most commonly found blended and dyed to make textiles are natural fibres and synthetic fibres (Cupit 1996). Natural fibres include vegetable fibres such as cotton, flax and hemp, animal fibres such as sheep's wool, and mineral fibres such as asbestos. Synthetic fibres are polymers based on petroleum and cellulose such as nylon (Cupit 1996).

Textile waste arisings originate from both the household (consumer) sector and the industrial (manufacturing) sector. Consumer waste generally comprises binned waste or that separated for reuse or recycling, such as unwanted clothing and carpets. Manufacturing waste originates from the processing of raw materials and in the fabrication and production of finished textiles and garments, including cuttings and rejected materials.

Commercially, textile waste generation is influenced by the production of textile goods: the higher the production, the greater the amount of waste. This is in turn a function of consumer demand, which is influenced by the state of the economy. While this may have a limited impact on the waste production in the manufacturing sector, it can have a much greater influence on the production of household textile waste.

Consumers react to changes in fashion both in clothing and household interior designs. Seasonal changes in fashion mean that clothes can become outdated very quickly, and this encourages the replacement and disposal of outdated, yet good quality garments. Consequently, manufacturers will increasingly develop high quantities of low durability clothing in response to a 'throw away society'. Economic prosperity also influences this trend, as the production of textiles increases with consumer spending, so does waste production from both the manufacturing and household sectors.

Textile waste in landfill contributes to the formation of leachate as it decomposes, which has the potential to contaminate both surface and groundwater sources. Another product of decomposition in landfill is methane gas, which is a major greenhouse gas and a significant contributor to global warming, although it can be utilised if collected. The decomposition of organic fibres and yarn such as wool produces large amounts of ammonia as well as methane. Ammonia is highly toxic in both terrestrial and aquatic environments, and can be toxic in gaseous form. It has the potential to increase nitrogen in drinking water, which can have adverse effect on humans (Cupit 1996). Cellulose-based synthetics decay at a faster rate than chemical-based synthetics. Synthetic chemical fibres can prolong the adverse effects of both leachate and gas production due to the length of time it takes for them to decay.

Textile waste is also incinerated in large quantities, and comes third after plastics and cardboard. Incinerator chimneys emit organic substances such as dioxins, heavy metals, acidic gases and dust particles, which are all potentially harmful to both humans and the environment.

Textiles represent between 3% - 5% of household waste (Cupit 1996) and estimates for arisings of textile waste vary between 550,000 tonnes and 900,000 tonnes each year (DETR 1999).

Over one million tonnes of textiles are discarded annually, mostly from domestic sources, of which 25% are recycled (Cupit 1996) as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Textile Reuse and Recycling

SOURCE: TEXTILE RECYCLING ASSOCIATION 1999

It is estimated that up to 95% of the textiles that are landfilled each year could be recycled (Recycling Association 1995). Textiles not reused or recycled are either incinerated with household waste or sent to landfills for final disposal. It is estimated that 400,000 - 700,000 tonnes of textiles are landfilled in the UK each year (DETR 1999).

A single tonne of textiles fills roughly 200 black bin bags (NI 2000 1999).

Textile recycling banks are one source for recyclable textiles. In 1996 charities and rag merchants operated 3,200 banks. The largest operator is the Salvation Army, which combines the use of over 1,500 banks with door-to-door collections. Recyclatex considers that an individual textile bank produces four tonnes of textiles per year, equivalent to a national total of 12,800 tonnes annually (Cupit 1996).

Fifty percent less energy is used in the production of fabric using recycled fibre (NI 2000 1995).

Garment cutting waste is 10% - 20% of fabric consumption, depending on production techniques and product range in the garment textiles sector. Knitting waste is typically 6% in the shaped knitwear area and up to 20% for traditional cut and sew manufacture (ETBPP 1997c).

In Western Europe, 1.6 million tonnes of carpet waste are produced each year (ENDS 1996).

A number of current and proposed pieces of legislation affect the management of textile waste as outlined below.

The Directive introduces progressively diminishing limits on the landfill of biodegradable municipal waste. Each member state will have to draw up a strategy for a three-stage reduction in the quantity of biodegradable municipal solid waste disposed to landfill. This must be reduced to:

• 75% of the 1995 figure by 2006
• 50% by 2009
• 35% by 2016.

The UK will be granted an additional four-year extension to the targets, since landfill represents the primary waste disposal outlet for UK waste. This will affect the amount of textile waste that is allowed to go to landfill, increasing the necessity for reduction, reuse and recycling.

The Landfill Tax Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/1527) were implemented in October 1996 as one of a series of measures to move waste management higher up the waste management hierarchy. They were designed to promote the 'polluter pays' principle, by increasing the costs of disposal to landfill, thus reflecting the environmental impact of this option. There are two rates of charge: £10 per tonne for active material and £2 per tonne for inactive material. In the 1999 budget, the Chancellor announced further increases of £1 per year, to be reviewed in 2004.

The Producer Responsibility (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/ 48) do not concern textile materials. They do, however, affect the manufacturers of textile waste who will have to recover and recycle a calculated percentage of the packaging used to distribute their end product (see Types of Waste A-Z Listing: Packaging).

Waste textiles represent a waste of resources in the manufacturing sector, with raw materials forming a high proportion of operational costs. Sound waste management practice by textiles manufacturing companies can significantly reduce operating costs. An examination of waste production to assess process changes that will reduce off-cuts and maximise the efficient use of raw materials can reduce both the purchasing costs of raw materials and the costs of waste disposal. Such process changes may entail:

• the adoption of a more efficient product design
• the implementation of more efficient practices and procedures
• the introduction of more efficient machinery.

Reducing waste at source should be a priority in any waste management strategy as it ultimately costs more to deal with the waste downstream.

Getting the most out of existing products can also reduce waste. Companies can maximise the life of clothing and uniforms by considering running repairs instead of buying replacement garments. Zips and buttons can often be replaced at less cost than buying new items. The colour and design of uniforms should only be changed when replacements are needed.

Garments sold for reuse generate the best income as reprocessing requirements are either zero or minimal and the costs are low despite the need for manual sorting. There is a well-developed network of clothing reuse schemes operating in the UK. Charity shops sell donated garments to raise funds, and these represent an effective outlet for unwanted household clothing and footwear. By contrast, textile merchants have little input into the re-wear market and make a greater contribution to the recycling of textile waste. The markets for second-hand clothing are large, and there is a considerable demand for unwanted, second-hand UK garments in developing countries. The main destinations for exported second-hand garments are much of Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and Eastern Europe.

Recently, though, exporters have had growing problems in receiving payments and have had to stockpile large amounts of garments at their own expense, due to the financial collapse in Eastern Europe and political turmoil in parts of Africa. Moreover, a number of African countries, including Kenya, are worried that cheap exports of second-hand clothing from the UK are undermining local textile industries in Africa. However, despite these problems, demand remains substantial enough to make second-hand textile export a viable option for textile reuse.

The collection of textile waste is generally administered through the use of a textile bank scheme that is open to the public. This is often run in conjunction with other methods of collection such as door-to-door collections. Alternatively, clothes may be donated directly to the stores themselves. The Salvation Army, Scope and Oxfam all use textile bank collections in conjunction with other methods. For example, the Salvation Army combines 1,500 textile banks with door-to-door collections. Door-to-door collections of waste are likely to increase and banks to decrease in the future, due to the lower quality of textiles deposited in recycling banks (Recycling International 1999). There is little or no market for low quality textile waste at present and so new ways have to found to obtain higher quality unwanted textiles.

Certain charity stores such as Oxfam have had problems selling out-of-season clothing. Householders have a tendency to donate winter clothes in the spring and summer clothes in autumn and winter. Oxfam, after the initial sorting process at the depot, have decided to store out-of-season clothes for the appropriate time of the year, to increase sales and limit the amount of textiles that have to be sent for reprocessing.

Most natural and synthetic fabrics can be recycled. Textile recycling is one of the oldest forms of recycling, having started in 1813 when Benjamin Law from the West Riding area of Yorkshire pioneered the process of pulling. This process involved breaking down woollen textiles into their constituent fibres (shoddy), so that they could be re-spun into fresh thread. In the past rag merchants collected waste fabrics and auctioned them off each week in Dewsbury. While the majority of waste textiles are now collected by charities, there remains a substantial rag merchant network in the UK (Cupit 1996).

Once collected, the textiles are sorted and graded before being sent to various destinations according to their quality. The end use is ultimately dictated by the value of the material, which is determined by the quality of the feedstock. For example, textiles constructed from synthetic fibres attract a low value as they are hard to break down for re-spinning due to their strength. They are also difficult to sort due to the variety of polymers used to make them. The separation process of synthetics could potentially be improved by both electrostatic and chemical separation, but the two processes are expensive and there are question marks against the rates of throughput these methods can achieve.

Textile waste can be used to manufacture recycled yarn, although few companies in the UK conduct this process. Experienced workers who can distinguish between the various types of fibre carry out the sorting. The fibres are initially shredded into shoddy (original fibres) by passing them over a rotating drum mounted with pins and are then spun or mixed with other fibres to make new yarn ready for weaving. Quality is an important factor in yarn manufacture and so the fibres must be returned to a consistent standard. Textiles should be sorted by fibre and also by colour types, to reduce the need for re-dying, thereby reducing energy consumption and pollutants. Evergreen Recycled Fashions have managed to save money by using this method (DETR 1999).

One of the major uses for recycled textiles is in the manufacture of cleaning and wiping cloths. Garments are generally stripped of added materials such as buttons and zips before being cut into strips to make the wiping cloths. The cloths are then cleaned and dried to remove pathogens. Competition is now forcing producers to cut to the customers' requirements, and competition from Eastern Europe and from paper wipes has forced prices down considerably during the late 1990s, making it difficult to profit from this process.

The use of textile waste as a filling or flocking material has benefited from legislation prohibiting the use of foam in certain furnishings. The process of production is similar to that of wiping rags, with external contaminants removed before the material is shredded into shoddy. As they will be hidden from sight when finally used, the individual fibres resulting from this process do not need to be separated by colour or quality. While this represents an excellent method of recycling waste textiles, the market for filling material has so far failed to escape the fall in demand and price for reprocessed textiles in general (MRW 1999).

Textile wastes have been used by some of the more innovative merchants for a wide range of other purposes. Waste fabrics have been used for soundproof blocks, insulation, roofing felt, bank stabilisation, and as pollution control filters.

Unwanted carpets currently pose a disposal problem as there is no option to recover them yet in the UK. This situation may well change in the near future following a three-year research project into carpet recycling and energy recovery. Conducted by carpet producers and their raw material suppliers in Western Europe, the project was completed in 1998 and is likely to lead to a series of pilot projects across Europe. The RECAM project used a specially developed technology to recover Caprolactam from nylon carpets so that it can be reused. Caprolactam is the raw material for nylon, which is often used for carpets. Disposal solutions also need to be found for the other waste components in carpets such as chalk and adhesives.

By recovering textiles, merchants are reducing the demand for virgin resources. The processes involved in the reuse and recycling of textile waste result in less pollution and energy use than the energy intensive processes involved in making textiles from virgin material. For example, the fibres do not have to be imported from abroad, they do not need to be re-dyed or scoured, and there is no need to wash virgin materials such as raw wool, which results in effluent discharges. Material washing and energy consumption still occur in recycling processes, but they are considerably less polluting than the processes involved in manufacturing textiles from virgin fibre.

Although textile waste can be incinerated with other materials to produce energy, the ash resulting from burning presents a disposal issue. The fly ash and the bottom ash from incineration (depending on the waste composition) can contain heavy metals. There is scope for using bottom ash for construction purposes, and fly ash can be used as a cement replacement. Currently, the majority of ash produced by incinerators is landfilled.

In 1991 Northamptonshire-based textile merchant Kettering Textiles joined forces with the Salvation Army to produce their own textile recycling facility. The Salvation Army was reorganising its management structure at the time and was interested in becoming involved in textiles recycling due to the potential to create jobs and income, and achieve environmental improvement. The Salvation Army was able to provide the public image for textile recycling, but lacked the facilities and technical expertise required to carry out the process. In November 1991 they began working with Kettering Textiles.

The Salvation Army originally established 1,000 collection banks in the first year of operation but this figure has now risen to over 1,500. In 1998 the partnership decided to design its own materials recycling facility to cope with the increased volume of textile materials donated. By examining inputs, outputs and objectives, Kettering Textiles was able to establish the system that best suited its needs. They examined other materials recycling facilities (MRFs) and picked the aspects they specifically required, which included both sorting belts and benches.

The processes involved are as follows:

• Material is initially weighed on a weighbridge before being sorted by hand to remove rubbish and shoes. Items are then sent by conveyor belt to be pre-sorted according to material.
• These materials are then taken by conveyor belt for final separation at satellite stations. As cotton materials are the most popular, they are fed onto a loop conveyor, which feeds the material into chutes controlled by the sorter. Bales of material between 350 - 500kg are produced by a baler at the end of the process.

The company employs 250 people, of which 50 are required to sort 140 grades of material. The new line is able to process 30% - 35% more than the old line, with the same number of personnel. The project has a turnover of £7 million, collecting 16,000 tonnes of material each year. Between 10% and 20% of clothing collected is sold in the Salvation Army's 33 shops, with the remaining clothing sent principally to Africa and Pakistan (Materials Recycling Week 1999).

SOURCE: MATERIALS RECYCLING WEEK 1999C

The market for waste and sorted textiles has witnessed a down-turn in prices due to the strength of the pound, import duties, and the growth of the Market in Africa for clothes manufactured in the Far East and China. Despite this down-turn in prices, a market for second hand clothing remains continues to play an important role in diverting unwanted textile material from landfill.

The textile industry and textile recyclers may encounter more regulations and controls relating to trade, health and safety, and the environment. Over the last year, the Textile Recycling Association has been working to establish a code of practice which will address safe working standards and bank designs within the textile industry. If the code is accepted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), textile bank operators will be given a timescale in which to comply with the code. The code has already been provisionally accepted by the HSE.

The code of practice can be summarized as follows:

• The bank should be of a suitable size for the amount of donations that can be reasonably expected
• It should be constructed from a material capable of containing fire and sufficient to prevent damage to any third party property
• The bank should be free from sharp edges, corners or protuberances that could represent a hazard to users, operators or other persons
• The loading system should be sufficient to accept an average donation sack of 6kg, yet have dimensions sufficient to prevent access of a child above the age of 10 years (i.e. less than 145mm) (Materials Recycling Week 2000a).

Lawrence Barry, the President of the Textiles Recycling Association (TRA) advocates a voluntary approach to improve textiles reuse and recycling in the future. All sectors involved in textiles, including industry, trade and collectors, must work together more closely to improve the management of textile waste, and learn from the experiences of other countries such as Germany and the USA (Materials Recycling Week 2000b).