Fascinating facts about textiles
Nearly three-quarters of the world's population uses secondhand clothes, either bought through the marketplace or distributed by charitable organisations.
Textile recycling first got off the ground about 200 years ago in the Yorkshire Dales, where they know a thing or two about textiles. Old clothes were collected in the horse-drawn carts of the 'rag and bone' men, who most probably wore secondhand clothing themselves - entrepreneurs well ahead of their time.
Recycling textiles
Textiles such as clothing, curtains and shoes can be recycled either by using them again, second hand, or by processing them to re-use the materials.
Cutting down on the quantity of textiles we throw away makes a lot of sense for a number of reasons. By recycling more of them we will:
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save energy
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save water
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save natural resources
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reduce landfill
Why recycle textiles?
Garments and shoes in reasonable condition can be sold secondhand or donated to the world's needy. Cloth such as curtains and bed linen can be re-used to make clothing.
Textiles in poorer condition can be shredded and used to make cushion filling, carpet underlay and loft insulation, for example. As well as helping large numbers of people directly, recycling old textiles has real environmental advantages as well:
Recycling textiles saves energy because a garment re-used is a garment that doesn't have to be manufactured. It also saves the energy otherwise used in processing raw wool and cotton, or manufacturing synthetic textiles.
Recycling textiles save water because some textile industrial processes use an awful lot of it. If everyone in the UK bought just one reclaimed woollen garment each year, we would save about 370 million gallons of water - more than the contents of an average UK reservoir.
Recycling textiles saves natural resources such as the petroleum-based constituents of synthetic materials and the dyes used to colour cotton and wool.
Recycling textiles reduces landfill because although they only make up about 2% of household waste, that's still 2,400 tonnes to find space for, from Rotherham alone - the weight of 340 large African elephants.
The Council is committed to increasing the amount of household waste we recycle. Please use your Blue Box and Blue Bags to the full.
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