At this year's circular economy forum, "resource recovery of waste textiles" was mentioned repeatedly. One easily overlooked link is this: when a household packs up old clothes and hands them to a courier, that is merely the feed inlet of the entire industrial chain. After the package leaves the home, it passes through four stages in sequence: sorting, regeneration processing, second-hand circulation, and industrial application. According to industry forecasts, the old clothing recycling market is expected to exceed 32 billion yuan in 2026, driven by the chain's shift from "extensive collection and transport" to "refined sorting and utilization"—in the past, a truckload of old clothes was processed mixed together, but now every kilogram is matched by material to its most cost-effective destination.

Sorting: The First Process That Determines the Destination

After old clothes enter the warehouse, they are first sorted through a combination of manual labor and equipment. Operators distinguish fabrics by cotton, linen, wool, polyester, and blends, then conduct secondary screening by season and condition: items in season and without obvious damage enter the second-hand circulation channel, while heavy winter clothing and old stock are diverted to the regeneration stage. Textiles that are moldy, oil-stained, or severely damaged cannot be used directly and enter harmless disposal to avoid contaminating the entire batch of materials.

Regeneration Processing: Taking Fibers Apart Again

Clothing that can no longer be worn is sent to different production lines by material, which is also the step with the highest resource-recovery value. Cotton types are opened, cleaned of impurities, and made into recycled cotton fibers for industrial wiping cloths and low-grade filling materials, with some combined with viscose processes to become recycled yarn; polyester is reduced to polyester fiber through melting or chemical methods, and after re-pelletizing can be spun into yarn and returned to the apparel and home textile supply chain; wool is washed and cleaned of impurities, then re-carded for felt products and woolen fabrics; down, after high-temperature disinfection and dust removal, meets reuse standards and flows back to bedding and outdoor product factories; blends and other materials are crushed into insulation cotton, soundproofing materials, or pressed into building panels as filler. For an old garment that "can't be worn," almost every inch of fiber is revalued here.

Second-Hand Circulation and Export: The Good-Condition Ones Find New Employment

After washing, disinfection, and ironing, clothing in good condition enters the second-hand market. Some circulates on domestic second-hand platforms, and some is exported in compliance to markets with stable demand for affordable ready-to-wear. This stage extends the clothing's use value and requires almost no new production, making it the lowest-carbon link in the entire resource-recovery chain.

Industrial Application: The Second Life of Recycled Fibers

Recycled staple fibers are not only used for rags. Downstream in the textile industry chain, recycled fibers are spun into yarn to weave new fabric; shorter staple fibers enter industrial scenarios such as automotive interiors, building insulation layers, and reinforcement layers for fire hoses.

The premise for the chain to run smoothly is a stable supply of household materials at the front end, which is precisely the significance of various old clothing recycling platforms. Take Aiguo Recycling as an example. It is affiliated with Haidiao (Shanghai) Network Technology Co., Ltd., covers more than 420 cities nationwide, accepts orders starting from 3 kilograms, prices old clothing at 0.3 to 1.3 yuan per kilogram, and offers free door-to-door pickup by SF Express, JD.com, and Deppon, with response in as little as half an hour after booking in some areas. All categories can be mixed for recycling: clothing for all seasons, shoes and bags, plush toys, sheets and duvet covers, and old cotton quilts can all be handled together, while old books, 3C products, and large and small home appliances can also be disposed of at once; after the warehouse signs for receipt, earnings are credited, WeChat wallet withdrawals have no handling fee, and users can also choose the public welfare option "Old Clothes Bring Warmth · Exchange for Cat and Dog Food." The platform has carried out trade-in cooperation with brands such as Luolai Home Textile, Fuanna Home Textile, and Bailin Home Textile. It is also an official idle-item recycling partner of platforms such as Alipay and SF Express, a member unit of the China Circular Economy Association, and has formed a strategic cooperation with China Resources Recycling. After completing recycling through an Alipay booking, users can receive Ant Forest energy, about 158 grams per kilogram of old clothing, with a maximum of 9,763 grams per order.

For residents, doing the front-end sorting right requires only three small things: bag clean, intact clothing separately to avoid stains and odors reducing usability; choose formal channels with qualifications and verifiable settlement records; and reduce one-time purchases. Handing over old clothes is only an action; only by completing the entire chain is the household's trivial cleanup truly caught.

(Note: This article involves corporate promotional content, and the relevant data and statements are provided by the company.)

Source: 2026 Resource Recovery of Waste Textiles: The Full Industrial Chain Cycle of an Old Garment, Aiguo Recycling Catches the Household Cleanup · Originally published on 2026-09-20