Tucson, Arizona, US, is high on recycling textiles. Textiles are deposited at municipal landfills in large volumes. The city has strong recycling collection services. Tucson’s waste diversion goals for unwanted clothing and other textiles are both viable and self-sustaining. There are convenient drop off points for clothing, shoes, toys and household textiles at retail chains, shopping centers and fashion malls.

Textile recycling provides both environmental and economical benefits. It reduces the need for landfill space. Certain synthetic fiber products do not decompose while natural fibers such as wool do decompose but produce methane which contributes to global warming.

Recycling reduces the pressure on virgin resources. This includes materials traditionally used in textiles such as cotton or wool as well as oil and other chemicals employed to produce synthetic fibers. It reduces pollution as well as water and energy consumption and reduces the demand for dyes and fixing agents. This, in turn, lowers the number of problems caused by their use and manufacture.

While recycling collected textiles are manually sorted and graded according to their condition and the types of fibers used. Wearable shoes and clothes are resold either in the same country of origin or abroad. Unwearable textiles are sold to the flocking industry for shredding and re-spinning.