Clothing Recycling Statistics

Clothing utilization has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago [1]

The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago [1]

The average American throws away about 81.5 pounds of clothes annually [2]

The average garment is worn only 7 to 10 times before being thrown away [2]

Clothing longevity in the UK fell by more than 30% between 2000 and 2015 [3]

UK citizens buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe [4]

Approximately 30% of clothes in the average wardrobe have not been worn for at least a year [3]

In the UK, 1 in 3 young women consider clothes worn once or twice to be old [3]

59% of consumers say they are looking for more affordable ways to shop [5]

55% of consumers say they are thinking more about sustainability when it comes to shopping [5]

65% of consumers say they seek maximum value from their clothing purchases [5]

79% of retail executives say their customers have participated in resale in the last 12 months [5]

94% of retail executives say customers are already participating in resale, open to it, or both [5]

The average U.S. consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes each year [6]

The average American buys one piece of clothing every 5.5 days [6]

The average person in New York City throws away 46 pounds of clothing and other textiles every year [7]

The average U.S. citizen throws away 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles each year [8]

33% of consumers shopped secondhand apparel in 2023 [5]

52% of consumers say if shopping for apparel in the next 12 months they would seek secondhand options first [5]

62% of Gen Z and Millennials looked for more affordable shopping options in 2023 [5]

69% of consumers say apparel resale offers the best value [5]

55% of consumers say buying secondhand apparel is more socially acceptable than it was 10 years ago [5]

58% of consumers say they seek the thrill of finding unique apparel items through resale [5]

48% of consumers say resale helps them afford higher-quality brands [5]

Clothing production approximately doubled between 2000 and 2015 [1]

In 2017, Europeans consumed 26 kg of textiles per person and discarded about 11 kg of textiles per person [9]

In 2020, the average EU-27 citizen generated 16 kg of post-consumer textile waste [10]

In 2015, global clothing production was estimated at more than 100 billion items [1]

3 in 5 garments end up in landfill within a year of being produced [11]

Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014 [11]

UK consumers buy more than 26.7 kg of clothing per person each year [11]

Clothing utilization in the UK has fallen by around 36% compared with 15 years ago [11]

UK adults have an average of 118 items of clothing in their wardrobes [12]

26% of clothing in UK wardrobes has not been worn in the past year [12]

One in six new purchases in the UK was for clothing in 2020 [13]

32% of UK items bought online are returned [13]

More than $100 billion worth of materials is lost each year due to clothing underutilization and the lack of recycling [1]

Globally, customers miss out on $460 billion of value each year by throwing away clothes they could continue to wear [1]

The UK sends £140 million worth of used clothing to landfill each year [3]

The global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2028 [5]

The global secondhand market is projected to nearly 2x by 2028 [5]

Resale is expected to grow 3x faster than the broader global apparel market by 2028 [5]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $73 billion by 2028 [5]

Online resale is expected to nearly double by 2028 [5]

The global textile recycling market was valued at $5.3 billion in 2021 [14]

The global textile recycling market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2022 to 2030 [14]

Asia Pacific accounted for 39.0% of the textile recycling market in 2021 [14]

The apparel end-use segment accounted for 35.0% of market share in 2021 [14]

The U.S. textile recycling market was valued at $1.3 billion in 2021 [15]

The U.S. textile recycling market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2022 to 2030 [15]

The apparel application segment accounted for 37.6% of the U.S. textile recycling market in 2021 [15]

NYC spends $20.6 million a year to transport and dispose of clothing and household textiles [7]

The U.S. textile reuse and recycling industry employs 17,000 workers [8]

The U.S. textile reuse and recycling industry handles 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textiles annually [8]

The global apparel resale market reached $197 billion in 2023 [5]

The global secondhand apparel market grew 18% in 2023 [5]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market grew 11% in 2023 [5]

The textile recycling market in Europe was valued at $1.6 billion in 2021 [14]

Home furnishing end-use in textile recycling is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% from 2022 to 2030 [14]

On average, the total sales of clothing are projected to reach 160 million tonnes in 2050 if the industry continues on its current path [1]

UK households had £30 billion worth of unworn clothes in wardrobes in 2020 [12]

The average UK adult has £266 worth of unworn clothes [12]

The value of clothing thrown away each year in the UK is estimated at £140 million [16]

The global recycled textile market size was valued at $7.6 billion in 2023 [17]

The global recycled textile market is projected to grow from $8.10 billion in 2024 to $13.69 billion by 2032 [17]

The recycled textile market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.8% during 2024-2032 [17]

Asia Pacific held a recycled textile market share of 38.68% in 2023 [17]

Apparel application held the largest share in the recycled textile market in 2023 [17]

The global textile recycling market size was valued at $4.9 billion in 2024 [18]

The global textile recycling market is expected to reach $7.2 billion by 2034 [18]

The global textile recycling market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 3.91% from 2024 to 2034 [18]

Asia Pacific dominated the textile recycling market with 41% share in 2024 [18]

North America is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.02% from 2024 to 2034 in textile recycling [18]

The fashion industry is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions [19]

It takes about 2,000 gallons of water to make a typical pair of jeans [19]

The fashion industry accounts for around 20% of global wastewater [19]

Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally [19]

It takes 3,781 liters of water to make one pair of jeans [19]

The textile industry is responsible for 8-10% of global emissions [2]

Extending the life of clothes by just 9 months can reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20-30% each [3]

Clothing has the fourth highest environmental impact after housing, transport and food in the EU [4]

Around 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to the fashion industry [20]

Around 70% of the fashion industry's emissions come from upstream activities [20]

About 20% of the fashion industry's emissions come from brand operations, retail operations, and transport [20]

The fashion industry emits about 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases annually [20]

Reusing clothing for just 9 extra months can reduce related carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30% [21]

Cotton production requires 2.6% of global water use annually [22]

Cotton cultivation uses 6% of the world's pesticides [22]

Cotton cultivation uses 16% of all insecticides globally [22]

It takes about 20,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of cotton [22]

Synthetic fibers make up 69% of all materials used in textiles production [9]

Consumption of textiles in Europe had on average the fourth highest negative life cycle impacts on the environment and climate change from a global life cycle perspective [9]

In 2020, textile consumption in the EU-27 required on average 9 m3 of water per person [23]

In 2020, textile consumption in the EU-27 required 400 m2 of land per person [23]

In 2020, textile consumption in the EU-27 used 391 kg of raw materials per person [23]

In 2020, textile consumption in the EU-27 generated a carbon footprint of 270 kg CO2e per person [23]

In 2020, textile consumption was on average the fifth largest environmental and climate pressure from household consumption in the EU [23]

The amount of non-renewable resources used to produce clothing is 98 million tonnes per year [1]

The textiles industry uses around 93 billion cubic metres of water annually [1]

Half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released into the ocean every year from washing textiles [1]

This microfibre release is equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles [1]

150 million trees are logged every year for cellulosic fabrics such as viscose, rayon and modal [24]

Textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined [11]

Washing clothes releases around half a million tonnes of microfibres into the ocean every year [11]

Buying all second-hand clothes needed in one year could save around 12.5 billion kg of carbon emissions in the UK [13]

This carbon saving is equivalent to taking 76,000 cars off the road for a year [13]

87% of the total fibre input used for clothing is landfilled or incinerated [1]

Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing [1]

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second [1]

Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned [19]

In 2018, 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste were generated in the United States [25]

In 2018, textiles comprised 5.8% of total municipal solid waste generation in the United States [25]

In 2018, 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled in the United States [25]

In 2018, landfilled textiles represented 7.7% of all municipal solid waste landfilled in the United States [25]

In 2018, 3.2 million tons of textiles were combusted with energy recovery in the United States [25]

In 2018, combusted textiles represented 9.5% of all MSW combusted with energy recovery in the United States [25]

85% of used clothes in the United States end up in landfills or incinerators [2]

Globally, an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created each year [2]

Around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year [4]

35 billion garments are discarded annually in the United States [6]

The equivalent of 1 garbage truck of textiles is landfilled every second globally [6]

85% of all textiles end up in landfill each year [6]

In the United States, an estimated 11.3 million tons of textiles are sent to landfills each year [6]

New Yorkers send more than 200,000 tons of clothing, towels, bedding, shoes, bags and other textiles to landfills every year [7]

Textiles make up about 6% of all household trash in New York City [7]

In New York City, 10% of discarded textiles are wet or moldy and should be trashed [7]

Americans discard more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles annually [8]

In Europe, about 87% of all incinerated or landfilled textile waste comes from households [9]

In 2019, the EU exported about 1.7 million tonnes of used textiles [26]

EU exports of used textiles increased by almost three times between 2000 and 2019 [26]

In 2019, 46% of EU used textile exports went to Africa [26]

In 2019, 41% of EU used textile exports went to Asia [26]

More than half of the used textiles exported to Africa are reused and the rest is dumped or burned [26]

A 2017 estimate indicates 4 to 9% of all textile products put on the European market are destroyed before use [9]

In 2020, total post-consumer textile waste generation in the EU-27 was estimated at 6.95 million tonnes [10]

73% of clothing is ultimately landfilled or incinerated [1]

23 million garments returned after online shopping in the UK were sent to landfill or incinerated [13]

The UK throws away 336,000 tonnes of used clothing every year [16]

Less than 1% of clothing is recycled back into clothing [19]

In 2018, 2.5 million tons of textiles were recycled in the United States [25]

In 2018, the recycling rate for textiles in the United States was 14.7% [25]

15.5% of textile waste was recycled in the United States in 2018 [27]

95% of all textiles can be recycled or repurposed [6]

The U.S. textile recycling industry removes approximately 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textiles annually from the waste stream [6]

The polyester textile recycling segment accounted for 31.0% of revenue share in 2021 [14]

Mechanical recycling accounted for 74.4% of the textile recycling market in 2021 [14]

Polyester accounted for 33.1% of the U.S. textile recycling market revenue in 2021 [15]

Mechanical recycling accounted for 76.9% of the U.S. textile recycling market in 2021 [15]

An estimated 95% of used textiles are recyclable [28]

About 95% of used clothing and household textiles can be reused or recycled [7]

In New York City, 50% of discarded textiles are clean and dry clothing that could be reused [7]

In New York City, 25% of discarded textiles are clean and dry linens or other household textiles that could be reused [7]

In New York City, 15% of discarded textiles are worn or stained clothing and other textiles that could be recycled as rags or fiber [7]

95% of used textiles can be reused and recycled [8]

The U.S. recycling rate for all textiles was 15.2% in 2017 [8]

Recycled clothing and textiles reduce landfill waste by nearly 4 billion pounds annually [8]

Secondary materials from recycled textiles are used in over 1,000 different applications [8]

Cotton textile recycling is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.2% from 2022 to 2030 [14]

Chemical recycling is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2022 to 2030 in the global textile recycling market [14]

Retail take-back programs can increase clothing collection volumes by 10% to 20% [21]

Separate collection systems capture only about one third of textile waste generated by households in Europe [9]

In 2020, 4.4 kg per person of post-consumer textile waste was separately collected in the EU-27 [10]

In 2020, the separate collection rate for post-consumer textiles in the EU-27 was 26% [10]

In 2020, 74% of post-consumer textile waste in the EU-27 was not separately collected [10]

Less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new textiles [23]

12% of the fibres used for clothing end up being downcycled into lower-value applications such as mattresses or insulation [1]

About 80% of charity shop donations are sold overseas or to UK reprocessors [16]

Around 5% of bins in clothing banks are contaminated with wet or dirty clothing [16]

Polyester is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 7.1% in the recycled textile market during the forecast period [17]

By material, polyester dominated the textile recycling market in 2024 [18]

By process, mechanical segment dominated the textile recycling market in 2024 [18]