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Sustainability platform Fashion for good launches a tool to map textile waste hotspots worldwide. The aim, called World of Waste, is to collect data points on the existing stock of textile waste – such as the quantity, type and composition of waste – and enable textile recyclers and others to access this as they look to expand their recycling capacity to scale up and as fashion strives to achieve its circularity goals.
“The basis of circular textiles is textile waste,” says Katrin Ley, managing director of Fashion For Good. The organization has worked with partners to collect data and map textile waste streams, but this has not been consolidated anywhere. “We thought it was a really important step to bring this data together to give you an aggregated view of the world of waste – bringing these data sources together and thereby facilitating access to this important information.”
The idea arose from the realization that all of fashion focuses on reducing and reusing waste increasing recyclingthere was no visible attempt to create a macro view of where textile waste actually accumulates. If a recycler needs a particular raw material to scale up their technology or wants to launch a production facility in a new region, there is currently no database or platform they can turn to to find that information.
“A view of textile waste at a global level is essential for us. By knowing the waste volumes and composition in key countries, we can guide our geographic focus regarding raw material partnerships and production location choices,” said Shay Sethi, CEO of textile recycling startup Ambercycle.
It could also be useful for policymakers, as legislation is on the way clothing waste management.
Fashion For Good worked with Reverse Resources, the Global Fashion Agenda, Circle Economy and Accelerating Circularity to develop the tool. Garment sorters and textile recyclers provided information to be used in the tool, as well as sharing their needs to help shape it; catalytic funding was provided by Laudes Foundation and IDH.
World of Waste is launching with data on post-consumer and post-industrial waste (e.g. scrap from a cut-and-sew factory), because that is where most research has been done and where the greatest direct potential lies in using the data to drive circularity to promote.
“Studies to date have focused on what types of waste are actually traceable, and can also be reused at a systemic level in some somewhat effective form – where can you create these circular systems?” says Lei. “If it is post-industrial waste, if there are systems in place that allow these factory residues to be diverted to the production regions, then that is a loop that you can create. And of course you can also create cycles if you look at the waste collection and sorting facilities in Europe or the US.”
It is possible that in the future the tool could also include other clothing waste streams, such as unsold or damaged goodsbut today, that data largely lies with the brands, and delivering those products to a circular system will present a unique set of challenges. Geographic coverage will also expand over time.
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