The import-export of textile waste has now reached huge volumes of business, but what ...
The import-export of textile waste has now reached huge volumes of business, but what happens to used clothes? Fifty percent of those that are donated or destined for the industrial recycling sector instead of the second-hand market end up in Panipat, 90 km north of Delhi, the textile fiber recycling capital of the world.
Textile waste arrives in India by ship from Western countries in huge bales. In the Kutch district of western India, workers-often in unhealthy conditions-do an initial assessment of the garments, from which buttons, zippers, studs and whatnot are then removed. They are then sorted by material (wool/cotton/polyester...) and color.
The garments that are still good are exported again, mostly to Kantamanto Market, the largest used clothing market in West Africa, because the Indian government bans the sale of imported used clothing to protect local manufacturing. Garments destined for recycling are shredded into small pieces that are then shipped north to Panipat, where they are then made into yarn at one of more than 300 plants producing yarn from regenerated fibers.
The process of fraying, recovering and regenerating textile fibers was once carried out in the West as well, but gradually the sector has been abandoned due to the high cost of labor, especially with regard to synthetic fibers which are then shipped to China and India, compared to the commercial value of the second raw material which is decidedly low. In Italy historically, fraying was carried out in the textile district of Prato, where today only the recovery of more valuable fibers such as wool and cotton endures. Some of these valuable fibers, however, also end up in the pile of waste shipped to the East, which, once unearned, are sent back to us as a secondary raw material, mostly to Prato itself, which imports about 180 thousand tons of wool waste every year.
The yarn obtained in Panipat is used for non-precious textile production, such as blankets, carpets and low-cost clothing and textile accessories for the domestic market (85 percent) and for export (15 percent). More than 90 percent of wool blankets purchased by international aid agencies, as relief goods in aid to people affected by natural disasters and wars, come from Indian industries.
The textile sector is one of the most polluting in the world, responsible for a significant share of climate-changing emissions, not only during the production process but also at the end of life. As Greenpeace's 2017 "Fashion at the crossroad" report highlighted, in Western countries including America, used clothing is not disposed of properly in the proper bins but together with household waste effectively preventing the recycling chain from starting by ending up in landfills and then in incinerators.
Also increasing waste is the composition of garments themselves and the phenomenon of fast fashion, which in the face of an exponential increase in production has lowered the quality of products, preferring garments made from combinations of natural and synthetic fibers that are then difficult to regenerate, as the fibers cannot be separated at low cost.
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