15 December 2022 Report

Composition of Textiles in Wales

Waste composition analysis of kerbside and HWRC collected textiles.

The aim of the composition analysis was to understand more about the quality of textiles within the household waste recycling centre (HWRC) and kerbside recycling streams, and its potential for re-use. 

The report identifies the detailed composition and the contamination levels and types of contamination found in used textiles collected both in kerbside recycling collections and at HWRCs. These aims and objectives were also applied when analysing the used textiles collected through bring banks.

WRAP Cymru selected and recruited the participating local authorities. In total, 10,860kg of used textiles were analysed during the course of the project. Bring banks were not initially in scope but were included where it was possible for completeness.

Overall, re-use grade clothing and shoes were the most commonly found materials across the three streams included in the analysis. The bring bank samples had the highest proportion of re-use grade clothing and shoes at 75.3% and the kerbside had the lowest at 54.6%.

Download the full report for more information.

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