China generates over 20 million tons of waste textiles annually, but only about 5.15 million tons were recycled in 2024. Wang Huaping, a researcher at the College of Materials Science and Engineering at Donghua University, pointed out that among the five major categories of recyclable solid waste in Chinese urban garbage, waste textiles have the lowest utilization rate.

Key Points

  • In 2024, China's waste textile recycling volume was about 5.15 million tons, compared to over 20 million tons generated annually, with a recycling rate far below 30%
  • Recycling 1 ton of old clothing can reduce 3.6 tons of CO2 emissions, save 0.5 tons of crude oil and 20 tons of water (UNEP data)
  • The National Development and Reform Commission and other ministries issued policies in 2022, targeting a 25% recycling rate by 2025 and 30% by 2030

Where Old Clothes Go: 60% Become Regenerated Raw Materials, Selling for Only 200 to 300 Yuan per Ton

A manager of an online old clothing recycling platform in Shanghai explained that collected old clothes are sorted at sorting factories by style and condition. Newer items are circulated as second-hand clothing, while about 60% of worn-out garments are sent to waste textile regeneration plants across the country. These clothes sell for extremely low prices—only 200 to 300 yuan per ton, which cannot even cover the labor cost of door-to-door collection. The manager said the old clothing recycling business actually relies on the secondary circulation of newer-style garments for profit. Although the platform offers door-to-door collection in over 300 cities nationwide, its annual recycling volume is only about 60,000 tons.

Ganxinyuan Recycled New Materials Co. in Fengxin County, Jiangxi Province, recycles nearly 200,000 tons of waste fabric and plastic bottle flakes annually, processing them into recycled fibers sold to textile mills across the country. Company manager Li Jian did the math: producing 1 ton of recycled fiber from waste fabric costs about 1,000 yuan, while using recycled plastic bottle flakes costs about 5,000 yuan. However, cheap waste fabric usage is less than 50,000 tons per year, because it "can't be collected."

Industry insiders say large amounts of old clothing and bed sheets are treated as household waste by residents. Even when they reach regeneration plants, these textiles are mostly machine-shredded and opened into insulation cotton, soundproof cotton, geotextiles, and other industrial or agricultural materials. Cai Haizhen, deputy secretary-general of the China Renewable Resources Recycling Association, noted that physically shredding fibers and re-spinning produces coarse texture, and only a very small amount can be made back into clothing; soundproof cotton and geotextiles, after use, get mixed with construction debris and are mostly incinerated, not truly "self-circulating" within the textile industry.

Technology Has Made Breakthroughs, but Industrialization Faces Three Barriers

A technology jointly developed by Professor Wang Jinfeng's team at Wuhan Textile University and Professor Zhang Jun's team at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, can decolor old school uniforms, then pulp, dissolve, spin, and re-weave them into new uniforms. She said China's textile regeneration technology has made significant progress, and an effective solution has been found for the long-standing problem of separating cotton-polyester blends, but market promotion still faces obstacles.

First, the composition sorting barrier. Fabrics are mostly blends of multiple fibers, and recycling requires sorting by category or even fiber ratio, greatly increasing overall costs. Li Jian revealed that his recycled fiber production line requires waste fabric to have over 90% polyester content, otherwise it clogs fiber nozzles. Only a few categories like sportswear meet this standard; cotton-polyester blend fabrics like shirts and dress pants cannot be used.

Second, the foreign object separation barrier. Metal and plastic foreign objects like buttons and zippers on clothing affect fiber quality and damage equipment, and can only be removed manually. In contrast, fabric scraps from garment factories, with fixed composition and no foreign objects, are sought after by recycling companies. Wang Huaping added that separating different materials like adhesives and coatings also drives up processing costs, further weakening the economic incentive for recycling.

Third, the technology implementation barrier. A team at Tongji University is promoting the integration of chemical recycling technology for cotton-polyester blend waste textiles, and demonstration cases have been formed, but promotion faces policy obstacles. Du Huanzheng, director of the university's Institute of Ecological Civilization and Circular Economy, explained that waste textile recycling could be treated as a waste recycling project located near landfills or processing plants, but environmental policies make this difficult. Because it involves chemical processes, local authorities require projects to be in chemical industrial parks for safety management, and many parks consider such emerging projects' investment and production scale insufficient.

Policy Targets vs. Reality: The Roadmap from 25% to 30%

The National Development and Reform Commission and other ministries issued policies in 2022 to accelerate waste textile recycling, proposing a recycling rate of 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Experts interviewed said some developed countries achieve recycling rates of 50%, leaving considerable room for improvement in China.

On the path forward, Wang Jinfeng suggested improving textile material and composition labeling standards, encouraging production-side visual or machine-readable identification labels so machines can scan and sort automatically, and establishing traceability and certification standards for recycled fiber materials, marking recycled fiber content in fabric labels. Cai Haizhen and others proposed that uniforms like school uniforms and workwear, which have relatively uniform fabric materials and usage cycles, are suitable for centralized procurement and centralized recycling, and could serve as a breakthrough for large-scale recycling, with recycled fabrics promoted in uniform products to create demonstration effects.

Du Huanzheng believes that new technologies in the circular industry—from raw material recycling and sorting to industrial implementation, financing, and a closed resource loop—require coordinated supporting policies from various departments to promote systemic integrated innovation.

Source: Economic Information Daily: Recycling Rate Below 30%—Where Is China's Waste Textile Renewal Stuck · Originally published on 2025-09-18