Addressing post-consumer textile waste in developing economies

Abstract

Consumer attitudes and disposal behaviour of textiles in developing economies are under researched, constraining capacity to address dual environmental challenges of increasingly disposable fashion and inefficient waste collection programs. We present the results of a systematic case study about post-consumer textiles waste in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Taking post-consumer textile waste as our unit of analysis, we conducted in-depth and semi-structured interviews with the local industry stakeholders, the waste management infrastructure and an island-wide survey of consumer attitudes and disposal behaviour towards post-consumer textile waste. The results indicate: (a) considerably more post-consumer textile waste than recorded at landfills; (b) consumption and disposal behaviour comparable with developed economies, significant in contexts of no formal mechanisms to address end of life post-consumer textile waste and (c) age, employment category, income level and geographical location, are statistically significant in understanding public textile waste disposal behaviour, indicating importance of appropriate policy and infrastructure issues.