How To Start a Textile Recycling Business?
1. Textile Waste Recycling
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven consumers to demand more responsible and sustainable products. They are turning their backs on fast fashion and demanding more circular products. Textile recycling is an innovation that drives significant change in the energy and fashion sectors. A huge amount of used but wearable clothing goes to landfills every year. Just 12% of the clothing sold globally each year is recycled.
The rest is down-cycled to make products like insulation. Our current obsession with "fast fashion" is aggravating the situation. Textile recycling involves the process of material recovery and reuse of old fabric from clothes or upholsteries. It is then reprocessed to form useful products. 90% of used textiles are recyclable. The global textile recycling market grew at a CAGR of 19% during 2014-2019.
2. Textile Recycling Business
If we manage to recycle 100%, then our total carbon, water, and waste footprint will be reduced by as much as 20%. A study has revealed that 82% of what we consider as 'textile waste', can be recycled and resold; so it can be a huge supply chain for the brands. Many big companies are investing heavily in hydrothermal and mechanical textile waste recycling processes that will enable cellulose from textiles to be efficiently recycled.
It will then be used for spinning, weaving, knitting, and dyeing, thus covering the full fashion value chain. The textile waste recycling business involves sorting and processing old clothes, fabric, or unwanted textiles, so that the raw materials from which they are made, can be recovered. The end products can be clothing suitable for reuse, fibers, or rags and scraps. You can resell these products back to the fashion industry, and earn some income in the process.
3. Different Types Of Textile Waste
Textile wastes are of two types, depending on the place of origin: post-consumer wastes and post-industry wastes. Post-consumer wastes are those that are no longer needed and are discarded from households. Post-industry wastes are those that are generated as by-products of apparel or home-furnishing industries. They are considered the purest form of waste since they are without any contamination.
Textile Waste Recycling includes:
Clothes
Shoes
Cushions, Pillows
Bags
Bedsheets, Duvets, Curtains, Table cloths
Curtains
4. Advantages Of Textile Waste Recycling
Results in 20 % in energy and water savings and less pollution as new fibers do not have to be purchased or transported. Reduces the need for landfill space. Reduces environmental load and greenhouse gas emissions through the efficient use of resources. Lessens demand for dyes. Less amount of chemicals are used, so it is better for the environment. Any budding entrepreneur can see an opportunity here. By starting a textile recycling business, he can give nature a helping hand and also earn money in the process. Here is a basic guideline on how to start a textile recycling business.
1- Space Required
You would need to rent or lease a space which should be enough for clothing intake and sorting. A 1000-square-foot area will be sufficient to start your business.
2- Ensure the supply of unwanted textiles
You can arrange textile-recycling drop-boxes, and put them in strategic places in your neighborhood; local schools, and places of worship, are good ideas. You then start a campaign, telling the residents to put their old clothes in those boxes. Another way is to put textile banks near car parks, or on the high streets. Also, you can put advertisements in local newspapers for clothes donations. You can paint the bins in bright colors and write on them what types of clothing are acceptable. They should be placed in high-traffic areas to encourage donations. You can equip the bins with GPS tracking and weight sensors to know when they are about to get overfilled.
5. Textile Recycling Business Benefits
Another innovative way to collect would be to institute a curb-side pick-up system, similar to trash pick-up. You could deploy a truck carrying a sign for this purpose. Train your driver to pick the clothes by hand, and put them in the truck to be finally brought to the sorting warehouse. Another strategy to collect clothing could be to organize door-to-door collections or pick-ups. It is important to note that mildew can grow on wet textiles leaving them unusable. So better keep them away from moisture. Make sure to keep the drop boxes covered and well protected from water or any moisture contact. You can also partner with a few retailers so that you can collect their unsold clothes or samples. In this way, these clothes won't find their way to a landfill.
1- Sorting
If you intend to do manual sorting, you need to hire experienced workers who can distinguish the different types of fabrics; for example, differentiate cashmere and wool by touch. For bulk work, you will need equipment like bins and conveyor belts to sort the incoming textiles based on the color and the type of materials. After sorting out anything that is still wearable, the balance should be segregated into different categories. One category would be those textiles that can be used to make new clothing. Good quality garments can be sold in the second-hand market.
About 45% of the collected clothing is usable and 10% is wearable. One category of fabrics can be cut down to make industrial wiping rags. For this, old T-shirts are preferred, because their cotton fibers are absorbent. The low-quality ones can be ground to make carpet padding or to convert into fibers. All buttons and rivets on the clothes have to be removed. Bulkier items like blankets and coats should be kept separately. Cotton can be recycled back to cotton, and the same with polyester; so those fabrics have to be labeled.
2- Estimate The Cost
You should calculate the cost of collecting the old textiles, as well as the cost of transporting them for sale.
3- Finance
Textile recycling is a capital-intensive business. To manage it you are going to incur a lot of expenses like chemicals, cost of equipment, staff wages, energy, site rental, and transport. Therefore, you have to have a financial plan in space. You need to put up the start-up capital and the working capital.
4- Identify A Buyer
After you have collected the old clothes, the next step is to find someone who will purchase your goods. It can be a textile mill, a shop, or an arts and crafts store. Remember that the price that you will negotiate with them should cover your operating costs, and leave you with a profit. One-half of donated garments can be resold to developing countries or thrift shops.
5- Invest In Machinery
If you have the funds, you can set up a textile recycling plant yourself. For that, you have to invest in textile cutting and shredding machines to convert the leftover textiles into usable fibers that can be utilized for insulation or soundproofing. A recycling machine can process up to 200 kgs of textiles per day. Balers are machines that compress waste items into blocks.
Polyester textile waste that contains a high percentage of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be transformed into clear, plastic bottles. For this, you will need a machine to granulate the item. They can also be melted and used to create new polyester fibers. So, you might need to buy multiple recycling machines to operate. This is a huge business opportunity worth crores.
6- Re-design Of Used Clothing
This is a very popular concept in the West. You can hire a designer to convert the used clothing into vintage clothes.
7- Production Unit
Further down the line, you can open a factory where fabrics will be opened, carded, spun into yarns, and transformed into knit fabrics. Some fibers can be compressed for textile filling, like in mattresses. Recycled yarns can be reused to make luxury blankets or even new wool, depending on the fibre quality.
6. Old Clothes Recycling Business Website Information
You can create a website, and put all the information about the importance of clothes waste recycling business, for educating the public. It has been estimated that about 7% of the average trash in a household comprises textiles. Textile recycling offers several economic and environmental benefits; so, it is a great 'social business' to be a part of. Go for it if you are truly aligned with the cause and you can connect with like-minded people.
