USED TEXTILES – RAW MATERIALS FOR NEW USES

Textiles are raw materials that should be kept in the recycling loop for as long as possible in order to conserve natural resources and reduce damage to the environment.

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TEXAID makes a significant contribution towards protecting the environment and conserving resouces by collecting around 80,000 tonnes of old clothes, shoes and home textiles every year. TEXAID boasts an excellent re-use and recycling rate of up to 90 per cent.

Thanks to state-of-the-art fine sorting, this rate even reaches around 58 per cent when it comes to second-hand clothing. This puts TEXAID above the European industry average (between 45 and 50 per cent). 

The remaining about 42 per cent of textiles are also carefully analysed. Badly damaged cotton or cotton mixed fabric items can be made into cleaning cloths. TEXAID's facility in Hungary is specialised in cutting the cleaning cloths to size and the TEXAID company in Germany is taking care of distribution. Around 17 per cent of the textiles that are no longer wearable can be re-used in this way.

Another 17 per cent are re-used as recycled wool to produce new clothing or in covers. Alternatively, they are mechanically shredded to be processed as a raw material for items such as insulating materials and roofing felt.

Only 8 per cent of the items collected are textile waste or non-textile materials.