The cost of unwanted clothes

WRAP has issued a stark warning: if the UK’s used textile sector goes under, charities, local authorities and consumers will have to pay the cost of dealing with unwanted used textiles.

WRAP predicts the cost of the sector collapsing would be an additional £64 million per year in costs of gate fees for local authorities for disposal of used textiles.

This is on top of the £73 million local authorities already pay for the textiles citizens currently put in the bin.

WRAP’s new report estimates that the cost of collecting and sorting worn-out textiles in the UK is £88 million per year.

Charities would lose income, and existing collections and sorting would not be able to operate.

Councils would have to choose between sending more material to landfill and incineration, or paying more for collections, with no other option to foot the bill than increasing council tax.

Charities face a crisis

Without funding support, costs of up to £200 million per year by 2035 can be expected, should the burden fall on councils to collect and dispose of our unwanted clothes.

The £64 million increase in costs would happen alongside an immediate impact to the environment with an increase of ~2.5 million tonnes CO2e per year due to the increase in landfill and incineration.

The cost for collectors and sorters to gather and process the UK’s worn-out textiles was previously balanced out by the money they made on reuseable items, but this is no longer the case – there are fewer reusable items that are desirable in global second-hand markets.

Most businesses are currently operating at a loss and out of public service. This is unsustainable, warns WRAP.

‘The charity sector plays a vital role in enabling a circular economy for fashion in the UK – a role it has been playing for over a hundred years. The sector now faces a crisis, with storage rooms up and down the country bursting with unsellable stock that collectors refuse to take. The knock-on effects of this are huge, with charities struggling to generate revenue, and the circular economy for clothes grinding to a halt.

‘There is a way out of this mess – we call on the sector to join us in realising the vision recommended in this report, and to work together towards creating a circular economy for textiles through ACT UK.’

CATHERINE DAVID
Incoming CEO at WRAP

How to avoid textiles waste

WRAP has identified three solutions that together could help save the industry and ensure used clothing is not wasted: automatic sorting, Extended Producer Responsibility and a redesign of retailer take-back schemes.

The ACT UK project involved 18 partners across the textile value chain. It aimed to establish a blueprint for innovative advanced sorting and pre-processing facilities in the UK to bridge the gap between worn-out textiles and an important step to unlocking textile recycling, to keep resources at a higher value and contributing to the economy.

Sorted textiles have a higher value because they will be fibre-sorted and pre-processed to recyclers’ specifications.