Assessing the circularity potential of textile flows for future markets in Denmark: A study of textile anatomy

Abstract

There is an urgent need to reduce the production and consumption of garments to curb the environmental emissions from the waste generated after their lifecycles. Nonetheless, even if drastic steps are taken today to reduce the production of textiles, the textiles already in circulation eventually need to be disposed of or recycled. To capture these garments and increase the quantity of textile available for recycling, the European Union (EU) has mandated the separate collection of the textile fraction across member states from 2025. However, collecting textiles for recycling does not guarantee that the collected textiles are recyclable. This study explores the recyclability of textiles by analysing the anatomy of textiles (linings, disruptors, adornments, and fibre blends) in Denmark and applies these findings to forecast the material available to different recycling routes in 2025. This study finds that in Denmark, after initial collection and sorting, textile complexity will likely result in the incineration of 36 % of textiles sent to recycling streams, 53 % will require disruptor removal, and 11 % will be available to different recycling routes. When the recycling capacity for high-quality recycling is considered, only a minor part (<2 %) of textiles in the Danish market can result in high-quality fibre-to-fibre recycling. These results emphasize the importance of considering textile anatomy both when designing textiles and determining recycling pathways. Moreover, our findings underscore that the Circular Economy (CE) transition cannot rely on recycling alone; instead, it must invest in avoidance and reuse approaches in addition to improved sorting and pretreatment facilities within Europe to best utilize the textiles currently in circulation.