Alan Wheeler, Director, The Textile Recycling Association (TRA) has urged the sector to reduce consumption of new clothes. He spoke on the eve resources charity WRAP formally unveiling its voluntary Textiles 2030 on April 26. Textile 2030 vision aims to slash the impact that textiles have on the environment over the next decade. To achieve this, the sector needs to collect more used textiles, without losing financial viability of the industry.

Instead of supporting jobs in textile production, governments need to support new jobs in the textile recycling industry, added Wheeler. New production houses need to use recycled fibers in their new textile products, he added. The Textiles 2030 comes after WRAP’s SCAP 2020 program missed its target for waste reduction.

While targets were met for reducing water consumption and carbon, the amount of textile waste being sent to landfill or incineration fell by 4 per cent since the 2012 launch, WRAP said, against a target of 15 per cent.