Five kinds of clothing that you shouldn’t recycle

So, which items should we be more cautious of when it comes to recycling our clothes?

As concern for the proper disposal of clothing waste grows, many consumers are turning towards recycling their old garments instead of discarding them. However, not all clothing items and fabrics can be easily recycled, despite good environmental intentions.

Blended Fabrics

While most fabrics, whether natural or synthetic, can be recycled, those composed of blends or unique compositions make recycling for challenging. Textiles can undergo either mechanical recycling, where they’re shredded for repurposing, or chemical recycling, where they’re dissolved to create a new material. However, fabric blends are not widely suitable for chemical recycling, and mechanical recycling offers limited opportunities for reuse in clothing, hindering the circular fashion concept.

Wet or Unclean Clothes

To avoid damaging other fabrics during the recycling process, it’s crucial to ensure that the clothes being recycled are dry and clean. Wet, mouldy, or dirty fabrics can contaminate other textiles and potentially spread bacteria, leading to further waste and damage.

Items with Fixtures

Recycling can be a labour-intensive process that includes separating fixtures like buttons, zips, and closures – all of which cannot be recycled along with the basic fabric. Often, recyclers reject clothing with these kinds of fixtures which means they are more likely to end up in landfill. By removing these fixtures before recycling provides an opportunity to reuse them for other garments.

Embellished Clothes

Any highly embellished fabrics containing sequins, metallic or plastic beads, and other decorations also create a challenge when it comes to recycling. Garments with embellishments are typically rejected but are great for alternative creative recycling projects.

Recycled Polyester

While recycled polyester clothing is increasingly popular, much of it is derived from PET bottles rather than polyester fabrics due to limitations in polyester fibre recycling. PET, or Polyethylene Terephthalate, is used to package 70% of carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices, dilutable drinks and bottled water. Light, durable, safe and with a smaller carbon footprint than alternatives, PET is the most recyclable plastic in the world. This unique material is vitally important as what our products are packaged with can have significant impacts for our environment and the sustainability of our economy.

Garments made from recycled polyester may have limited recycling potential, so it’s best to repurpose them as cleaning cloths or give to communities in need.