Where do recycled old clothes actually end up? Depending on whether they meet the standard for recycled fiber raw materials, recycled textiles are mainly divided into two directions: civilian and industrial. On the civilian side, they can be made into recycled fabrics, work gloves, mops, bow ties, vests, outerwear, as well as hotel disposable towels and disposable carpets for large events. On the industrial side, they are made into soundproof cotton, thermal insulation cotton, filters, cover cloth, roadbed fabric, and even building materials and machine oil cloth. Old clothes whose crude oil does not meet textile-grade standards are not wasted; they simply enter another production line.

Key Points

  • Recycled textiles are divided into civilian and industrial categories according to whether they meet the standard for recycled fiber raw materials. Torn jeans, old shoes, ripped coats, and unraveled sweaters are the main raw materials on the civilian side.
  • Civilian-side products include recycled fabrics, work gloves, mops, vests, and outerwear. Hotel disposable towels and disposable carpets for large events are also made from old clothes.
  • For every 1 kilogram of old clothes recycled, 6,000 L of industrial water can be saved, 3.6 kg of carbon dioxide emissions reduced, and the use of 0.3 kg of fertilizer and 0.2 kg of pesticide avoided.

Let's start with the civilian line. Recycled fabrics, work gloves, mops, bow ties, vests, and outerwear that people encounter in daily life all belong to this category. What is easily overlooked is that hotel disposable towels and disposable carpets for large events are also made from recycled old clothes. This line has a threshold for raw materials: they need to meet the standard for recycled fiber raw materials—torn jeans, old shoes, ripped coats, and unraveled sweaters often end up here. As for the hygiene issue consumers care about most, old clothes must undergo multiple rounds of sterilization and disinfection during processing, and disposable towels must be disinfected again after production before they can leave the factory for sale. This step is not skipped.

Now the industrial line. Old clothes that fail to meet textile-grade raw material standards are not discarded, but instead turned into soundproof cotton, thermal insulation cotton, filters, cover cloth, and roadbed fabric, and can also be used to produce building materials and machine oil cloth. This type of cotton usually lacks rigidity, has messy colors, and consists of short, old fibers, but it is actually suitable for scenarios that do not require close contact with the body. Machine oil cloth is especially worth mentioning—domestic demand is large, and overseas markets are broad as well. However, these engineering materials are priced low and rely more on economies of scale than civilian yarns: if the volume is too small, sorting and transportation costs cannot be spread out, and factories are unwilling to take it on; once volume picks up, the value of the industrial side steadily absorbing mixed old-clothing waste becomes apparent. For the same reason, the recycling system is especially dependent on blended, damaged old clothes that cannot be sorted by material—with the industrial side holding up the price floor, the front-end resale and sorting stages have room to pick out higher-value individual items.

On the environmental ledger, the old numbers are very limited. For every 1 kilogram of old clothes recycled, 6,000 L of industrial water can be saved, 3.6 kg of carbon dioxide emissions reduced, and the use of 0.3 kg of fertilizer and 0.2 kg of pesticide avoided. These figures are not astonishing on their own, but when accumulated by the ton and by the year, their effect on the ecological environment becomes evident.

The essence of recycled textiles in both scenarios is the same: producing goods that meet usage needs without wasting resources. They lack the luster and strength of virgin long fibers, but in exchange they gain an asset—less oil extracted, less plastic burned, and less carbon emitted. For the industry, understanding the classification standards for recycled yarn also determines pricing upstream in the recycling chain and production investment decisions downstream; for ordinary households, sending old clothes into formal recycling channels and producing one more towel is itself a form of support for environmental protection.

Source: Netizen: Unbelievable! The old clothes we donated actually turned into these things! · Originally published on 2021-11-07