<\/p>\n
Clothes made from more than two fibres are currently regarded as unrecyclable. Activists call for decrease in consumption: “repair, reuse and upcycle”.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Clothes made from more than two fibres are currently regarded as unrecyclable PARIS: In H&M\u2019s flagship Paris store it is hard to find clothes that do not claim to be made from \u201crecycled materials\u201d.<\/p>\n Last year, 79 per cent of the polyester in its collections came from recycled materials, and next year it wants it all to be recycled.<\/p>\n The Swedish fast fashion giant told AFP<\/em> that recycled material allows the \u201cindustry to reduce its dependence on virgin polyester made from fossil fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n The problem is that \u201c93 per cent of all recycled textiles today comes from plastic bottles, not from old clothes\u201d, said Urska Trunk of campaign group Changing Markets.<\/p>\n In other words, from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n And while a plastic bottle can be recycled five or six times, a T-shirt in recycled polyester \u201ccan never be recycled again\u201d, said Trunk.<\/p>\n Almost all recycled polyester is made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) from plastic bottles, according to the non-profit Textile Exchange.<\/p>\n In Europe, most textile waste is either dumped or burned. Only 22 per cent is recycled or reused \u2014 and most of that is turned into insulation, mattress stuffing or cleaning cloths.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Activists call for decrease in consumption: \u2018repair, reuse and upcycle\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n