Textile-to-textile recycling economics don’t stack up

BRUSSELS – Europe must scale textile-to-textile (T2T) recycling to around 2.7 million tonnes a year by 2035 or face an escalating waste crisis, according to a major new report published today.

The study, says that Europe currently generates around 15.2 million tonnes of textile waste annually, of which 13.3 million tonnes is post-consumer. Yet only around one tonne in nine is collected and sorted through dedicated channels — and textile-to-textile recycling accounts for less than 1% of that total.