A recent study commissioned by the European Commission explores the potential environmental gains of scaling textile-to-textile recycling in Europe. With global textile recycling rates currently at just 1%, researchers investigated the climate and water impacts of increasing this to 10% by 2035. The study supports EU efforts under the Circular Economy Action Plan and the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which aims to ensure all textile products on the EU market are durable, repairable, and recyclable by 2030.

Conducted by the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, the study used life cycle assessment and Monte Carlo analysis to evaluate five key factors: increased collection and sorting, greater recycling, reduced landfill and incineration, reduced primary fibre use, and trade-offs with energy generation from incineration. It offers rare insight into the systemic effects of fibre-to-fibre recycling at scale something essential for designing effective EU policies on textile waste.

Key Findings

• Climate impact reduction: Achieving 10% recycling by 2035 could reduce climate impact by an average of 0.5%, equivalent to saving 440,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, with a 92% probability of a net-positive climate outcome.
• Water savings: The recycling shift could reduce water scarcity impact by over 3%, saving approximately 8.8 billion m³ world equivalent in water use, with near 100% certainty of improvement.
• Influencing variables: Factors like energy decarbonisation and decreased virgin fibre production are key to maximising the impact. Small changes could affect the climate reduction probability (range: 87-95%), while major variables shift it between 62-98%.
• Policy needs: Fibre-to-fibre recycling must be energy efficient and produce high-quality fibres to replace virgin fibres. Policy tools such as taxes on virgin materials and stronger textile collection systems are needed to support uptake and effectiveness.    

The findings reinforce the environmental value of expanding textile-to-textile recycling and provide concrete data to support EU targets. While technical and policy challenges remain, the study makes a strong case for investing in advanced recycling systems as part of a broader shift toward circular textile production in Europe.

Read the full EU study summary here.