A new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and
ReHubs highlights the urgent need for systemic action to
tackle Europe’s growing textile waste problem and scale a circular
textile economy.It confirms that Europe generates around 15.2
million tons of textile waste every year, including 13.3 million tons
of post-consumer waste. However, only a small share of this waste
is collected and sorted for recycling, leaving most textile waste
outside recycling systems.
As a result, textile-to-textile recycling currently represents less
than 1% of post-consumer textile waste in Europe and without
decisive action, Europe’s textile waste could reach the equivalent
of around 80 football stadiums filled with discarded textiles every
year by 2035.The report shows that scaling textile-to-textile
recycling is technically possible but needs to reach a critical
tipping point of around 2.7 million tons of recycling annually by
2035 to unlock economies of scale and make the ecosystem viable.
Reaching this milestone will require €8-11 billion in capital
investment and €5-6.5 billion in recurring annual operating costs,
as well as coordinated supply-and demand-side measures across
the value chain.The analysis also emphasises that textile-to-textile
recycled fibres represent a new product category with structurally
higher processing costs. Under current market conditions, they
cannot compete directly with incumbent recycled materials or
virgin fibres without targeted enabling mechanisms and
coordinated policy support.Scaling textile circularity will therefore
require coordinated collaboration across the entire value chain,
from improved collection and sorting infrastructure to demand
signals from brands and clear policy frameworks that support
investment and innovation.“Europe has the opportunity to build a
truly circular textile ecosystem, but it will require systemic change
across the entire value chain,” says ReHubs CEO Robert van de
Kerkhof. “Textile-to-textile recycling is technically possible today,
but scaling it requires coordinated action from industry,
policymakers and investors. Through collaboration across the
value chain, ReHubs is helping to drive the transformation needed
to build a circular textile economy in Europe.”