It is now known that Europe has a massive problem with textile waste – currently 7 to 7.5 million tons are generated annually (mainly in private households), but only about 30 to 35 percent is collected separately and less than 1 percent of textile waste is currently made into new waste clothing recycled.
European waste legislation wants to change that, and accordingly all EU member states must collect textile waste separately in the next 2.5 years. While some countries are already developing systems to address the waste collection challenge, there is currently no large-scale plan for processing this waste.
This is where the new study “Scaling textile recycling in Europe – turning waste into value” by McKinsey & Company, which also works together with Euratex’ ReHubs initiative, which aims to increase fiber-to-fiber recycling for 2.5 million people by 2030, comes in tons of textile waste.
A fifth of textile waste could be turned into new clothes
According to the McKinsey study, at least a fifth of textile waste could become new clothes and a circular economy for textiles could create 15,000 new jobs in Europe by 2030 and reach a market size of 6 to 8 billion euros. However, this would require initial investment of 6 to 7 billion euros.
In a webinar on Thursday evening, the authors of the study, Karl-Hendrik-Magnus, Jonatan Janmark and Nikolai Langguth, accompanied by expert Moa Strand from Stockholm, presented scenarios of how the volume of textile waste and collection and recycling rates will develop by 2030. They also showed the potential of the recycling industry in Europe and gave a positive impression: “Europe will show the way for the world” was the conclusion.
“If the full technical recycling potential were used and more textiles were collected, between 18 and 26 percent of textile waste could be reused for the production of new garments by 2030,” said Magnus, senior partner and head of fashion industry consulting at McKinsey in Germany. “A scaled textile recycling would not only save four million tons of CO2, but also create a profitable industry with 15,000 jobs in Europe.”
Creating value through recycling
The authors of the study emphasized that the expansion of the textile value chain – i.e. textile recycling – not only has social and ecological advantages, but also economic ones. Therefore, they answered the question posed by the participants as to whether this value chain could be sufficiently monetized and made profitable with a resounding ‘yes’.
“The investment in fiber-to-fiber recycling is not only worthwhile for reasons of sustainability. Recycling can result in new raw materials that would enable more fashion production in Europe. As a result, this recycling industry could generate even more value,” says Janmark.
However, in order to be able to use the full potential of textile recycling, a total of around 6 to 7 billion euros in investments will be required by 2030, which will be needed in the entire value chain such as collecting, sorting and the construction of recycling factories.
challenges
However, there are also a number of challenges to overcome – on the one hand the massive fragmentation of the starting material and the fact that it is mostly mixed fibers. These still pose a problem, as fiber sorting is currently still largely manual and immature. Technical upgrades must be made here and greater automation must be achieved. “However, this is not the end of the world, but means great opportunities,” the authors agree.
A number that impressed the participants was a 70 percent share of fiber-to-fiber recycling that should be possible by 2030. This resulted from an in-depth analysis by the authors, taking into account the current type of textiles in circulation and their composition.
“This so-called fiber-to-fiber recycling, in which new fibers for fashion are made from textile fibers, represents the most sustainable way of generating something new with value from waste,” explains Janmark. In addition, the collection rate could be increased to 50 to 80 percent by 2030 or the circular economy, which produces new fibers for fashion from textile waste, could be scaled to 18 to 26 percent. It is currently less than 1 percent.
recycling technologies
This move towards a circular economy is made possible by new technologies, such as mechanical recycling of materials such as cotton, thermo-mechanical recycling that produces polymers, and chemical recycling for the recovery of polyester, which is currently being tested. Thermo-chemical recycling is also one way that produces syngas.
With every technology, energy efficiency and the possibility of producing a quality similar to new goods must also be taken into account, which often behaves inversely. “The good news here is that the different types of recycling technologies and innovations are not competing with each other, we need them all,” explains Langguth.
“However, the collection and processing of old clothing and textiles still faces major challenges due to fragmented, small-scale structures and mostly manual work processes. Garment waste must be sorted according to quality criteria, buttons and zippers removed and fiber composition clearly identified. Many products made from mixed fibers still represent an unsolved problem for fiber-to-fiber recycling,” according to the study.
Keyword nearshoring
Nearshoring is the keyword here and a possibility for Europe, should recycling take place where the waste material is also generated. After that, the recycled material can be forwarded – for example to Asia for processing – since the transport after the recycling process is more efficient
Ultimately, webinar participants – including brands, investors and government organizations – wondered if consumers were willing to get involved and pay more for recycled/sustainable products. There is a gradient here depending on the target group: the younger, the greater the willingness to search for and buy recyclable or sustainable materials. The circular design will also play a major role here.