China has banned imports of textile scrap. The aim is to improve environmental protection and standards within China’s domestic recycling infrastructure. However, it’s doubtful if a ban on the import of specification-grade scrap materials will help with those efforts. For recycled commodities such as recovered paper and fiber, plastic scrap and copper scrap, China accounts for more than half of the world’s total imports. With more than $5.2 billion in scrap commodities exported from the US to China last year alone, the trade in specification-grade commodities between the US and China is of critical importance to the health and success of the US-based recycling industry and China’s manufacturing sector.

Scrap textiles are useful in bolstering circularity initiatives. A ban can impede progress on global textile recycling and prevent China’s manufacturing sector from accessing valuable recyclable materials and minimise other opportunities for recycling. It will result in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and the closure of many recycling businesses throughout the US.

Textile recycling is the process by which old clothing and other textiles are recovered for reuse or material recovery. Steps in the textile recycling process involve the donation, collection, sorting and processing of textiles and then subsequent transportation to end users of used garments, rags or other recovered materials.