Led by Dr Omid Doustdar, assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, the research explores the economic and environmental effects of textile recycling.

The paper titled ‘Textile Recycling and Recovery: An Eco-friendly Perspective on Textile and Garment Industries Challenges’, systemically examines these aspects of the textile industry, providing an in-depth analysis of available technologies and methods for waste recovery and recycling. It highlights the key challenges, including limitations in large-scale industry, issues with waste classification, and contamination from chemical blends.

It has been estimated over 100m tonnes of textile waste was generated in 2023 alone. Of this, only 1% was recycled while close to 90% was sent to landfill or burnt. According to the European Union (EU), just in Europe, more than 12kg of textile waste is generated per person annually, with discarded clothes and home textiles from consumers accounting for approximately 85% of the total waste, which accounts to approximately 5m tonnes.

The paper said that while 100% of textile and fashion waste would be recycled it is currently difficult to achieve and expensive. As such it found many countries are facing economic and environmental challenges