Global
Textile-to-Textile Recycled Fiber Availability Data for Apparel and Home Textiles
Project linkProject partners:
651,205
Post-Industrial Textile Waste (tonnes per annum)
Post-industrial textile waste
- 100% Cotton
- 100% Polyester
- Cotton Rich
- Poly-rich
- Poly-Cotton (>50% Polyester)
- MMCF
- Nylon
- Wool
Data methodology
Our estimates of recyclable post‑industrial textile waste start from global production of key apparel and home‑textile fibers and apply indicative process‑loss rates across spinning, weaving, knitting and cutting stages. We then exclude waste streams that are typically reused within the supply chain to derive an order‑of‑magnitude view of post‑industrial feedstock that could potentially enter recycling. In this analysis, we exclude deadstock, overproduction and reusable “soft” spinning waste, and focus only on fiber types with currently high recycling potential: cotton, polyester, MMCF, nylon and wool.
Notes
The Textile-to-Textile Recycled Fiber Availability Data for Apparel and Home Textiles initiative is a multi‑stakeholder effort to build the first global, evidence‑based picture of textile‑to‑textile recycling potential for apparel and home textiles. It combines new data on post‑industrial and post‑consumer waste, mapped recycling capacity, and forward‑looking scenarios to understand how much recycled fiber could realistically be supplied by 2030. The project aims to support policymakers, brands, recyclers, and other value‑chain actors with robust, sector‑specific insights that can guide recycled‑content targets, investment decisions, and the scaling of true textile‑to‑textile circularity.