Textile Waste Hits Feds’ Radar and a Snapshot of a GAO Report on Textiles RecyclingTextile Waste Hits Feds’ Radar and a Snapshot of a GAO Report on Textiles Recycling

A new GAO report delves into what’s driving the spike in textile discards—one of the fastest growing streams for two decades now. The report describes the trend’s environmental impact. Its authors explore federal government action to reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling; and they suggest ways agencies can take their work further.

Arlene Karidis, Freelance writer

January 14, 2025

5 Min Read
tottotophotography / Alamy Stock Photo

Environmental groups are increasingly speaking up about textile waste’s ramifications while California makes headlines as the first state to pass textiles extended producer responsibility law. At the same time, federal agencies are starting to target this fast-growing stream from behind the scenes.

But they have worked in silos, and now the General Accounting Office (GAO) is shining a brighter light on the problem and calling for a unified, national-level plan of attack.

A new GAO report delves into what’s driving the spike in textile discards—one of the fastest growing streams for two decades now. The report describes the trend’s environmental impact. Its authors explore federal government action to reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling; and they suggest ways agencies can take their work further.

Two recommendations rise to the top of the list:  one is that Congress designate a federal entity to coordinate agencies’ work; the other is proposed actionable steps emphasizing interagency collaboration.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates textile waste spiked 50 percent between 2000 and 2018 (the latest available national data). Americans generated 17 million tons of it in 2018 alone, with only 15 percent recycled or reused. The rest was landfilled or incinerated, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions, microplastic pollution, and contributing to PFAS contamination.

Imports have spiraled since EPA’s 2018 estimate, with a 182 percent increase in textile and apparel units from 2000 through 2023, according to the International Trade Administration. The import data suggests the disposal numbers are much higher than when EPA last looked.

Drawing insight from federal, academic, nonprofit, and industry sources, GAO describes five main drivers believed to be behind the uptick

  • Fast fashion

  • Limited, decentralized collection and sorting systems

  • Nascent textile recycling technologies

  • Increased use of synthetic fibers and fiber blends

  • Foreign country bans on the import of used and unsold textiles

For a little context behind these drivers:

With fast fashion (the rapid production of cheaply made clothes), people are tossing their short-lived discards in the trash. Others send it to thrift shops, but they are bombarded with more than they can handle, some of which is not in good enough condition to sell, so it ultimately makes its way to landfill too.  

Lacking collection infrastructure imposes limitations on disposal options in many locations so, again, landfill becomes garments’ final resting place.

Textile sorting and grading facilities are scarce too, and what sorting and grading that is done is performed manually, a labor-intensive task that entails having to identify and separate fiber types. More automated systems are emerging, but they are still under development.

Textile recycling technologies are in their infancy. Mechanical recycling in particular is challenged to produce quality materials, at least when working with blended fibers. Chemical recycling also has limitations and is mainly in research and development stages.

Synthetics like polyester and fiber blends are especially hard to process.  Meanwhile demand for synthetic fibers, especially polyester, is surging; today synthetic materials are found in about 60 percent of apparel and 70 percent of household textiles.

Changing overseas landscapes present further barriers to managing textiles waste. For years used garments were exported to Africa, Asia, and Central America, but countries in those regions are clamping down. Several of them have banned the import of used textiles while others have raised tariffs on what they will import.

A number of federal entities have initiated or planned efforts to reduce textile waste and advance recycling.

For instance, the EPA intends to develop a textiles recycling strategy as part of its 2021 National Recycling Strategy series within the next few years.  The overall strategy includes goals to increase the national recycling rate to 50 percent by 2030 and to transition toward a circular economy nationwide.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has engaged in multiple textiles initiatives and projects. To name a few, it’s led workshops on moving toward a textile circular economy and has initiated standards development activities in reach of this goal.

The International Trade Administration conducts research and analyzes textile waste technologies. And the U.S. Department of Energy oversees an innovation prize challenge for industry to advance work to reintegrate end-of-life products into the economy, including textiles.

These entities are joined by the Bioenergy Technologies Office, The National Science Foundation, and several other federal operations that are looking to address textile waste.

“However, we found that federal entities have largely implemented the efforts individually … and that [their] approaches and efforts vary, in part, due to their differing missions,” the GAO report authors say. Further they report budget constraints have pushed the textile waste quandary further down on their priorities list.

In conclusion GAO recommends:

  • Agencies work in conjunction to establish an interagency mechanism to coordinate federal efforts to advance textile circularity, reduce textile waste, and advance textile recycling.  

  • Define outcomes, data needs, and resource requirements to align their efforts.

  • Improve access to existing federal grants to support local and state governments and nonprofits in developing and or expanding recycling programs.

  • Improve data collection on textile waste and reuse to help inform policy.

GAO’s report follows requests from several elected officials that the agency look into issues around textile waste and recycling.  Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), founder of the Congressional Slow Fashion Caucus, was perhaps the largest force pushing for this request.

Says Pingree: “Textile waste—driven by fast fashion—is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the United States. The GAO report confirms the environmental toll of fast fashion and underscores the urgent need for bold Congressional action to transition from a throwaway economy to a circular one. I am committed to introducing legislation to build on these recommendations.”

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About the Author

Arlene Karidis

Freelance writer, Waste360

Arlene Karidis has 30 years’ cumulative experience reporting on health and environmental topics for B2B and consumer publications of a global, national and/or regional reach, including Waste360, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Baltimore Sun and lifestyle and parenting magazines. In between her assignments, Arlene does yoga, Pilates, takes long walks, and works her body in other ways that won’t bang up her somewhat challenged knees; drinks wine;  hangs with her family and other good friends and on really slow weekends, entertains herself watching her cat get happy on catnip and play with new toys.

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