Report highlights textile recycling challenges and opportunities

NEW YORK – Less than 1% of the 15.4 million metric tons of used textiles generated in the US each year is recycled back into new clothing, according to a new report from the Accelerating Circularity nonprofit.

Entitled 'Rags to Revenue', it says the business case for post-consumer textile-to-textile (PCT2T) recycling remains fundamentally uncompetitive, with textiles “overwhelming waste management capacity” and accounting for nearly 8% of landfill mass in the US.