120 million tonnes of textile waste, and rising

Michael Restin

13.8.2025

Translation: machine translated

The world's textile waste could have filled 200 Olympic stadiums in 2024. 80 per cent of the discarded clothing ends up in landfill or is incinerated. In an analysis, the Boston Consulting Group identifies the problems, but also the potential.

Low recycling rate

Even if the brave new world of goods with ocean plastic and eco fibres suggests otherwise, the recycling rate is vanishingly low. According to the BCG, 80 per cent of clothing ends up in landfill or is incinerated - which seems to be the «better» solution between these two evils.

A tonne of incinerated textile waste releases as many emissions as if you flew back and forth between London and New York six times. If the material rots in landfill sites, it produces emissions equivalent to eight such trips. Microplastics are also released into the environment.

Only around twelve per cent of the discarded clothing was reused and less than one per cent was recycled into new fibres, writes BCG. This vanishingly low rate is also due to the fact that only seven per cent of waste can be used as a recycled raw material.

Lost potential

According to the analysis, the material value of waste alone is around 150 billion dollars per year and a quarter of this could cover the material requirements of the 30 largest fashion companies in the world. However, there is no real, functioning recycling system for an industry of this size. Sorting is usually done by hand, which is slow and inefficient.

Another problem identified by BCG is the mixed fibres in many garments, which combine cotton with elastane, for example, and pose major problems for recycling processes on the way to a genuine circular economy. Problems that can be illustrated by the smallest parts such as a zip.

All this makes recycled fibres too expensive to be truly competitive. «These higher prices are due to decades of global supply chains that are optimised for the supply of new materials», the team of authors concludes. In addition, there are the effects of subsidies - and the fact that the environmental damage caused by the production of new materials is not reflected in the price in many cases.

Recommendations for action

For Europe, the authors see the potential to expand the return and collection systems to such an extent that the collection rate can be increased to over 50 per cent by 2033. Modern, semi-automated sorting systems should be up to 90 per cent more efficient and better able to process this mountain.

In addition, innovations are to be financed, politicians mobilised and consumers persuaded to make even greater use of recycled products. In other words, the full programme, which often fails in reality.

Globally, the BCG team predicts that with a well-functioning circular system, the recycling rate could rise to over 30 per cent - which would mean over 50 billion dollars worth of recycled fibres and create around 180,000 new jobs.

It would be great. Unfortunately, what remains is a gigantic pile of textile waste. Some of which may have been traded in online shops such as Galaxus.

And that on Galaxus

Michael Restin

Senior Editor

Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.ch

Simple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.

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