LOS ANGELES - A closed-loop apparel recycling system in the US state of California could potentially achieve economic, environmental and social benefits worth up to US$9 billion a year, according to a new report.
The new McKinsey and Company study, entitled 'Closing the loop: Increasing fashion circularity in California', claims up to half of this would come from the closed-loop recycling of polyester which represents nearly half of the textile waste currently thrown away.
Some 60 per cent of these benefits would be economic - the premium consumers would pay for recycled garments, 22 per cent were environmental - reductions in land and chemical use from replacing virgin materials, while 18 per cent were social - jobs created in the recycling industry.
