Environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling – A review

Gustav Sandin,Greg M Peters

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.266

Abstract

Abstract This paper reviews studies of the environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling, to provide a summary of the current knowledge and point out areas for further research. Forty-one studies were reviewed, whereof 85% deal with recycling and 41% with reuse (27% cover both reuse and recycling). Fibre recycling is the most studied recycling type (57%), followed by polymer/oligomer recycling (37%), monomer recycling (29%), and fabric recycling (14%). Cotton (76%) and polyester (63%) are the most studied materials. The reviewed publications provide strong support for claims that textile reuse and recycling in general reduce environmental impact compared to incineration and landfilling, and that reuse is more beneficial than recycling. The studies do, however, expose scenarios under which reuse and recycling are not beneficial for certain environmental impacts. For example, as benefits mainly arise due to the avoided production of new products, benefits may not occur in cases with low replacement rates or if the avoided production processes are relatively clean. Also, for reuse, induced customer transport may cause environmental impact that exceeds the benefits of avoided production, unless the use phase is sufficiently extended. In terms of critical methodological assumptions, authors most often assume that textiles sent to recycling are wastes free of environmental burden, and that reused products and products made from recycled materials replace products made from virgin fibres. Examples of other content mapped in the review are: trends of publications over time, common aims and geographical scopes, commonly included and omitted impact categories, available sources of primary inventory data, knowledge gaps and future research needs. The latter include the need to study cascade systems, to explore the potential of combining various reuse and recycling routes.

Highlights

The global demand for textile products is steadily increasing (The Fiber Year Consulting, 2015; Oerlikon, 2010), a trend likely to continue due population growth and economic development
An example of a partial life cycle assessment (LCA) is AITEX (2007), which omits the life cycle impact assessment (one of the four mandatory LCA phases according to the ISO 14040 standard (ISO, 2006)), presenting results in terms of inventory indicators only
Examples where LCA data is used as input are: Muthu et al (2012b), which use LCA data as input when applying a multi-dimensional indicator for rating the potential of textile recycling of various fibres; Fisher (2006) and Fisher et al (2006), which combine scenario analyses on UK waste flows with LCA data to quantify environmental benefits of various policy options; and Fortuna and Diyamandoglu (2017), which combine a material flow analysis with LCA-based emission factors to optimise reuse strategies and practices with regard to greenhouse gas emissions

Summary

Introduction

The global demand for textile products is steadily increasing (The Fiber Year Consulting, 2015; Oerlikon, 2010), a trend likely to continue due population growth and economic development. The textile industry is facing tremendous environmental and resource challenges. Sixty-three percent of textile fibres are derived from petrochemicals (Lenzing, 2017) whose production and fate give rise to considerable carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (Shen et al, 2010a). For most categories of environmental impacts, later stages in the textile production process give rise to even larger impacts (Roos et al, 2015a). Allwood et al (2006) suggest greenhouse emissions, water use, toxic chemicals and waste are the main environmental issues facing the textile industry. Sandin et al (2015) estimate that, for several environmental impact categories, the impact per garment use in a western country (in this case, Sweden) must be reduced by 30e100% by 2050 if the industry is to be considered sustainable with regard to the planetary boundaries outlined by Steffen et al (2015). Allwood et al (2006) suggest greenhouse emissions, water use, toxic chemicals and waste are the main environmental issues facing the textile industry. Sandin et al (2015) estimate that, for several environmental impact categories, the impact per garment use in a western country (in this case, Sweden) must be reduced by 30e100% by 2050 if the industry is to be considered sustainable with regard to the planetary boundaries outlined by Steffen et al (2015). Roos et al (2016) show that such a grand transition requires a combination of different measures for impact reduction, most likely including more reuse and recycling

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