The EU generated 7Mt of textile waste in 2020, 70% of which ended up as mixed household waste, and only 30% was destined for reuse and recycling. Fast fashion, the dominant source of textile waste, is associated with well-known environmental and social impacts, as nowadays the dominant fate of textile waste involves landfills in foreign countries or second-hand markets. The EU policies on a Circular Economy, which align with SDG12, introduced specific actions to improve the sustainability of textiles, supporting the use of recyclable and recycled materials, Extended Producer Responsibility, and the use of mandatory separate collection systems for textile waste in all member states starting in 2025.
Separate collection of textile waste has been recently implemented in Italy, and this study aims to understand the barriers and status of textile waste management in this country, which is significant and representative in the EU context. Firstly, a literature survey identified the technical, economic, and social factors that affect the implementation of separate collection systems effectively fostering the circularity of textiles. Lack of citizens awareness, logistic infrastructure, and automation are key issues. Secondly, we investigated textile waste management at full scale, with a specific focus on what happens after separate collection, based on the analysis of the operations implemented by 21 Italian companies. Data were collected through questionnaires, on-site visits, and interviews with the technical staff. The companies were inventoried according to a set of indicators referring to inflow type (pre- and post-consumer) and amount, number of phases and process implemented (manual or automated and sorting and/or mechanical recycling), and outflow type. The results of this study are as follows: 50% of the interviewed companies process pre-consumer textile waste, which is usually well sorted based on type of fiber and color and effectively recycled into fibers or insulating materials; companies managing post-consumer textile waste produce outflows partly destined to end up in foreign markets as second-hand garments and industrial rags or fillers but mostly sent to disposal in landfills or incinerators. Several initiatives fostering textile circularity have been identified, all at the lab/small company scale. In conclusion, a better design of textile waste management infrastructure, involving all stakeholders, is highly necessary in Italy to promote the establishment of a Circular Economy and minimize exports to developing/underdeveloped countries.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, S.F.; methodology, S.F.; investigation, I.Z.; data curation, I.Z.; writing—original draft preparation, I.Z. and S.F.; writing—review and editing, S.F.; visualization, I.Z.; supervision, S.F.; funding acquisition, S.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This study was carried out within the MICS (Made in Italy—Circular and Sustainable) Extended Partnership and received funding from Next-GenerationEU (Italian PNRR—M4 C2, Invest 1.3—D.D. 1551.11-10-2022, PE00000004).
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Dataset available on request from the authors.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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