McKinsey has published a new report entititled Scaling textile recycling in Europe—turning waste into value, which further ampifies the goals of the Euratex-led ReHubs project announced during a press conference at the recent Techtextil show in Frankfurt.

The report explains that today, more than 15 kilograms of textile waste is generated per person in Europe. The largest source of it is discarded clothes and home textiles from consumers – accounting for around 85% of the total waste.

The generation of textile waste is problematic, as incineration and landfills – both inside and outside Europe –are its primary end destinations. This has several negative consequences for people and the environment, but a significant transformation lies ahead that could create a large and sustainable new industry that turns waste into value.

There are multiple ways to address the waste problem, including the reduction of overproduction and overconsumption, the extension of product lifetime, and designing products for increased circularity.

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