Notes

The textile industry is one of the largest industries in the world, but because of the size and amount of products it creates a lot of textile waste. This waste causes serious environmental concerns due to the sheer magnitude of refuse. Since many textile products won't decompose over time there has to be ways to help the environment yet still be able to create the necessary product for people all over the world. Textile recycling has become the solution: whether it's donating clothes or reusing them, this helps the waste issues immensely. There are many ways to recycle, but some of the best are donating clothes to thrift shops or creating new products with them so that they are not thrown away.

Textile Industry
The textile industry is one of the largest businesses in the world. The term 'textile' refers to more than just clothes and includes all goods made with fibers and filaments--even fabric buttons and parts of shoes, purses, seat belts, and umbrellas. There are many different types of textile machines, ones that weave, sew, dye, and even quilt. It is obvious how much textiles are a part of our lives; people of the world cannot live day to day without coming in contact with hundreds of different textiles. But what happens to these clothes and products when they aren't usable anymore?

Textile Waste and Environmental Concerns
There are many different kinds of textile waste. There is the waste that happens originally at the mills where the products are made. There are fibers and scraps that get thrown away. Then, once the products get put out on the market, people buy them, wear them out or get tired of them, and throw them away. Although some people donate their clothes, sometimes even donations get tossed into landfills because they are soiled or wet. There is a massive amount of waste due to the sheer volume of products produced.

The landfills in the United States receive over 13 million tons of textile scraps and garbage annually; in Britain it's another million. Although most if not all textiles are recyclable, it is estimated that only about 15 percent of people will donate their old clothes and textiles; instead they get thrown away. Clothing specifically has an average lifespan of three years, meaning that people are replacing a closet's worth of clothes every three years. This is causing an overwhelming problem with landfills, as they cannot handle the amount of waste produced and discarded.

The types of textiles are another problem causing waste. Many will not decompose over time: things like synthetic fibers do not break down, which means anything made of synthetic fiber will pile up in a landfill. Additionally, wool creates methane when it breaks down, which is also very bad for the environment.

Ways to Recycle Textiles
The universal recycling symbol
Recycle
Now we know that waste in the textile industry is an issue. However, there are programs out there to solve this problem. There are many ways to recycle our textiles. You can donate them to thrift stores, or family and friends. There are also corner bins in neighborhoods and recycling trucks that will come to your door.

Donate
Recycle
Reuse
The more textiles are donated, the more that can be used by others who shop at secondhand stores and thrift shops. Although donation percentages are low, over 70 percent of the populace uses secondhand textiles. So if more were donated they would be used by most of the world, creating a better cyclical return.

The reuse of products can also be helpful, such as using old clothes as patches or material for new clothes or using buttons for decorations on new clothing or to seal other products like blankets or sheets. Using old blankets to stuff pillows or dog cushions is also a good way to use old products in a new way.

Recycling textiles creates jobs, which is another positive. Recycling plants employ hundreds of people, which increases the economy in all the places that they open up.

Many textiles that are donated get packed up and shipped off to other countries to provide clothes to third world countries. This helps many countries--not just our own. Additionally, if textiles are reused, like clothing changed into cleaning rags, or seat belts changed into belts, then the textile has a longer shelf life, creating more space between purchase and disposal.

Lesson Summary
The textile industry is one of the largest industries in the world, but because of the size and amount of products it creates a lot of textile waste. This waste causes serious environmental concerns due to the sheer magnitude of refuse. Since many textile products won't decompose over time there has to be ways to help the environment yet still be able to create the necessary product for people all over the world. Textile recycling has become the solution: whether it's donating clothes or reusing them, this helps the waste issues immensely. There are many ways to recycle, but some of the best are donating clothes to thrift shops or creating new products with them so that they are not thrown away.