TEXTILES.ORG
December 12, 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report titled “Textile Waste: Federal Entities Should Collaborate on Reduction and Recycling Efforts.” The report also offers practical solutions to address the problem, centering on a collaborative approach. Not that it will be easy, but it is, says the report, very important. Advanced Textiles Source has talked about textile waste and associated environmental issues regularly for some time.; the report is a welcome addition.
This report delves into specific underlying causes and offers a plan to address them. Specifically, it “underscores the critical need for federal action and interagency collaboration to reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling, given the alarming rise in textile disposal in recent decades.”
Multiple departments and agencies within the federal government are called to collaborate on “establishing an interagency mechanism to coordinate federal efforts on textile circularity, reducing textile waste, and advancing textile recycling in the U.S.” But it also calls on Congress to “designate a lead federal entity for coordinating textile waste reduction efforts,” pointing out that “without such guidance, current initiatives risk remaining disjointed and underfunded.”
Why it matters
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “The majority of discarded textiles in the U.S. end up in municipal solid waste streams, with a staggering 66 percent being landfilled, 19 percent incinerated with energy recovery, and only 15 percent recycled,” it says.
There is limited data on textile waste, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates a more than 50 percent increase between 2000 and 2018 in the U.S.. It isn’t just the sheer quantity, however; textile waste harms the environment, according to academic and federal reports GAO reviewed. These include the release of greenhouse gases, such as methane, as textile waste decomposes in landfills. Dye and chemical contaminants leach into soil and water, and microplastics infiltrate waterways.
The massive increase in textile waste is due to multiple factors, but “fast fashion” is taking the brunt of the blame. This end of the textiles industry is a world away, in a sense, from the textiles typical of the high-tech end of the functional fabrics industry. The most technologically advanced materials and products must focus on functionality, as these are often developed specifically for protection in dangerous environments, or for medical purposes. Sustainability isn’t necessarily at the top of the list, but these products also do not create the bulk of the waste. Furthermore, advanced technologies are in the forefront of developing solutions to the larger issues. These include how to recycle, what can be recycled and processes to accomplish this.
In addition to fast fashion, fragmented collection systems, technological challenges, material composition and global restrictions have exacerbated the problem. That covers a lot of territory; the report breaks it down. The difficulties associated with collecting, sorting, and moving textile waste from its source to someplace where it can be recycled are staggering globally, but extremely daunting domestically, too. Fabrics with fiber blends, and synthetic fibers, specifically, pose their own problems requiring unique solutions, and textile recycling technologies are “still in their infancy,” according to the report.
A collaborative approach
The GAO report highlights key federal entities, including the EPA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Departments of State and Energy, as potential collaborators. However, these agencies currently operate independently, without a unified strategy or framework. That’s right. It’s not just partnering with academic institutions or industry, or even the federal government collaborating with state and local governments. The U.S. government needs to collaborate with itself.
Some federal entities have initiated and planned efforts to reduce textile waste and promote textile recycling. But GAO found that, “most federal entities’ efforts are nascent, and their approach depends on their mission and expertise. Further, federal entities carry out individualized efforts on textile waste and recycling and give these efforts a lower priority than other goals.”
Because of this, GAO makes a point in its report to identify opportunities for interagency collaboration to find a better way forward. The high-tech, high-end segment of functional fabrics and their end products is exactly the place where expertise is likely to exist that’s in the best position to marshal various forces and move ahead with real, long-term solutions. From technology, to leveraging an understanding of world markets, the advanced textiles industry’s place is at the forefront of this effort.
Moving towards circularity
In addition to “interagency mechanisms,” the report offers several recommendations. Among them are identifying desired outcomes, making funding more accessible—including to government entities and nonprofits—and standardizing data collection and tracking to support decision making. This is where the high-tech functional textiles segment has an opportunity to support circularity in a meaningful way.
The report says: “Transitioning to a circular economy—where textiles are designed for durability, reuse, repair, and recycling—offers a sustainable solution to the textile waste crisis. A circular model reduces reliance on virgin materials, minimizes environmental impact, and retains value within the economy.”
In addition to the larger issue of “designing textiles,” new technologies for recycling and reusing textiles, as well as dealing with the complexities of synthetic blends, will require the level of expertise to be found in our most advanced research facilities. That there is a report at all underscores the agency’s belief that the situation is urgent and so large that it will require a coordinated effort to include—beyond government entities—businesses and consumer cooperation as well.
This provides some commentary on the summary provided by the GAO. The full report can be accessed via their website: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107165.
Janet Preus is senior editor of Textile Technology Source. She can be reached at janet.preus@textiles.org.