Maidstone in Kent, UK, is testing a pothole repair material made from waste textiles: the town council has partnered with inventor Élise Daly to repair 5 potholes at Mote Park and Penenden Heath, and will monitor their performance under vehicle traffic and weather changes.

Key points

  • Maidstone Borough Council has completed 5 pothole repairs at Mote Park and Penenden Heath using recycled textile materials.
  • The material was developed by designer Élise Daly, whose company RECOOL was registered in 2024.
  • The work was carried out by contractor Loughman, filling the potholes with RECOOL material first, then laying a specialist road surface on top.

The idea behind the material is to replace a significant portion of conventional filler with treated textile waste, reducing the amount of conventional material needed for each repair; a specialist road surface is then laid on top for vehicles to drive on. Shelley Grierson-Wilcken, Maidstone Borough Council's Climate and Biodiversity Manager, said that if the method proves effective and is adopted by more local councils, the savings could be considerable, though Maidstone has not yet calculated exactly how much could be saved.

Daly is a designer who previously worked in the contemporary team at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), contributing to exhibitions, installations and collaborations with institutions including the Royal College of Art and the Serpentine Galleries; she studied interior and spatial design at the University of the Arts London and has spent over 30 years on art and design projects ranging from five-star hotels and private interiors to school canteens. After reading reports about vast quantities of discarded clothing piling up in places such as Chile's Atacama Desert, she had the idea of tackling both potholes and textile waste at once. At the time she was looking for plastic-free packaging for her own food product and sorting through clothes her children had outgrown, so she began researching how to turn mixed textile waste into new materials and registered the company RECOOL. She explained that in addition to pothole filler, RECOOL has developed buttons, toys, hairbrushes, car interiors and other products currently typically made from conventional plastic, and hopes to expand partnerships with fashion brands, manufacturers and others to lower waste disposal costs for councils and businesses while reducing demand for new plastic.

The project also drew on the power of women engineers. Daly contacted the Women's Engineering Society and brought in women engineers so the product would be compatible with existing repair methods and equipment. Contractor Loughman was responsible for filling the prepared potholes with RECOOL material before laying the specialist road surface.

Maidstone chose park roads for the test because these areas are maintained by the council itself, making it easier to observe performance under vehicle traffic and to assess over the coming months whether to use the material for future repairs.

Cllr Rachel Rodwell, the council's cabinet member for climate transition and nature recovery, noted that second-hand marketplaces have extended the life of many garments, but fast fashion still causes huge amounts of textiles to be discarded every year; testing waste textiles as pothole repair material is a practical way to explore reducing waste, cutting carbon emissions and supporting the circular economy. Cllr Clive English, deputy leader with responsibility for environmental services and enforcement, said parks and open spaces receive millions of visits each year, and the trial lets this potentially transformative product be tested under real everyday use and British weather conditions.

For the second-hand clothing industry, this case shows that textile waste is seeking new local destinations beyond sorting and export; if the trial succeeds, it could offer a materials-recovery route for old clothes that struggle to find buyers, though the cost savings and prospects for scaling up still need further verification by the council and the market.

Source: Unwanted clothes being used to help fill potholes in Kent town · Originally published 2026-09-30