Study highlights positive environmental impacts of increasing textile-to-textile recycling rates in the EU

Despite concerns over the poor sustainability of ‘fast fashion’, recycling rates for textiles are low. The process often involves ‘down-cycling’ textiles into low-grade products such as insulation. However, current levels of textile-to-textile recycling, whereby discarded textiles are shredded and granulated to be used as the basis for new fabrics, are only around 1% globally[1]. 

As fibre-to-fibre recycling technology is developed and scaled up, the rate could reach 26% by 2030[2]. Meanwhile, the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles has an objective see all textile products on the EU market being durable, repairable and recyclable by 2030. 

Researchers from IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute investigated some potential outcomes of increasing recycling levels to 10% by 2035. This would be a conservative projection, but it is ambitious compared to where things stand currently. Their work addressed a scarcity of research on the environmental impacts of implementing textile-to-textile recycling at scale in the EU, which the team felt would be needed to direct resources effectively in addressing the textile waste problem.

They assessed product life cycles and environmental impacts of five textile recycling processes: 

• increased collection and sorting for recycling
• increased recycling
• reduced amounts of textiles incinerated and landfilled
• reduced primary fibre production
• compensation for decreased energy production due to reduced incineration 

They used a Monte Carlo analysis to determine the impact of different variables and the likelihood of different results. They also calculated how sensitive their findings were to small changes such as EU energy decarbonisation rates and the climate impacts of reduced fibre production. 

They found that reaching the 10% target for textile-to-textile recycling would have a 92% chance of resulting in reduced climate impacts and a nearly 100% chance of bringing water scarcity improvements. The average reduction in climate impact of the new approach, compared to ‘business as usual’, was 0.5%, representing a saving of 440,000 tonnes CO₂ equivalent per year. The average reduction of impact on water scarcity was just over 3%, or 8.8 billion m³ world equivalent (a measure of water depletion). 

Small changes could alter the probability of climate impact reductions to 87-95%, while major changes could bring the probabilities to anywhere from 62% to 98%. 

They did not see such disparities in the impacts on water resources by the textile industry, with no probabilities falling below 99%. This suggests better recycling would almost certainly bring a reduction in water use.

The results highlighted that care is needed in addressing influential factors when implementing large-scale changes in textile recycling, with increased recycling and decreased primary fibre production being the most impactful. Underlying parameters also made a difference, with the decarbonisation of EU energy systems up to 2035 being an important factor in determining the climate impact of changes.

Despite the results suggesting greater rates of recycling, the authors stressed that recycling processes also need improvement, namely by being more energy efficient and ensuring that recycled fibres are of high enough quality to replace virgin sources. Moves at EU level to support such developments could fall under the Energy Efficiency Directive and Circular economy action plan. They also stressed that fibres produced from recycled materials need to replace primary fibres which are the current manufacturing norm – perhaps encouraged through policies such as taxes on virgin resources.

Fibre-to-fibre recycling also requires policy support to play a significant role in hitting European waste targets, and there are barriers to be overcome in textile collection and segregation systems, which vary significantly between countries. EU Member States are required to have established separate collection streams for used textiles from 2025. 

Reference:

Sandin, G., Lidfeldt, M. and Nellström, M., 2025. Exploring the Environmental Impact of Textile Recycling in Europe: A Consequential Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainability (2071-1050), 17(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/su17051931

To cite this article/service:

“Science for Environment Policy”: European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service, edited by the Science Communication Unit, The University of the West of England, Bristol.

Notes on content: 

The contents and views included in Science for Environment Policy are based on independent, peer reviewed research and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission. Please note that this article is a summary of only one study. Other studies may come to other conclusions.

[1] Textile Exchange. Materials Market Report 2024. Available at: https://textileexchange.org/app/uploads/2024/09/Materials-Market-Report-2024.pdf ; and Ellen MacArthur Foundation. A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future. Available at: https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy

[2] Circular fashion in Europe: Turning waste into value. McKinsey.com. July 14, 2022. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/scaling-textile…