Why are textiles important?

Textile waste has a very high carbon footprint, it probably creates more carbon that the other waste in your bin.

Old clothing can be difficult to recycle and the market for recycling textiles is flooded with poorly made clothes that have limited use in other products, this has led to landfill sites and bins full of textiles.

Reusing clothing is 70 times better for the environment than producing new clothes. 

This video outlines some of the key issues and highlights why reducing textile waste is important. 

Find out more about why textiles are an issue and the efforts being made to make them more sustainable, and find out more about the issues with fast fashion.

Check out our textiles pages on shopping more sustainably, looking after your clothes, and what to do with unwanted textiles to learn what you can do to help reduce the issues associated with waste clothing and textiles.