Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) in Kent, UK, is working with sustainable materials company RECOOL to trial filling potholes with recycled clothing material. The trial paving is taking place on council-owned land at Mote Park and Penenden Heath — local public roads are maintained by Kent County Council, so the pilot has not been rolled out onto public highways.

Key points

  • Maidstone Borough Council has teamed up with RECOOL and contractor Loughman to trial old-clothing filler at Mote Park and Penenden Heath.
  • The material fills the bulk of the pothole with recycled textile waste, with a dedicated road surface layer laid on top.
  • The UK generates about 1.45 million tonnes of waste textiles each year, nearly half of which goes into general waste.

How it works: textile waste as the base, a specialist surface to finish

According to Kent Live, the process is being carried out by the council together with contractor Loughman: most of the pothole's volume is filled with recycled textile waste, and the top layer is covered with a specialist road material to meet the surface strength required for traffic. The council hopes the trial will assess whether old clothing can serve as an environmentally friendly alternative filler.

Background: 1.45 million tonnes of old textiles a year, nearly half in the bin

What is driving this trial is the sheer scale of the UK's textile waste. Data from the charity Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) shows that the UK generates about 1.45 million tonnes of waste textiles each year, nearly half of which ends up mixed into general waste.

Maidstone borough councillor Rachel Rodwell said resale platforms have indeed extended the life of many garments, but fast fashion is still producing huge amounts of discarded textiles, and this pilot is about turning that problem into an opportunity.

The original article did not disclose the filler's formulation, cost, durability data or the specific duration of the trial, nor whether there are plans to extend it to public roads; we will continue to follow the trial results.

For the old clothing trade and recycling industry, this case points to a new outlet for textile waste in building materials: as export markets and sorting channels come under pressure, converting low-value old clothes that can no longer be worn into road filler could fill the end-of-chain gap in the traditional reuse chain.

Source: Council using recycled clothing material to fill potholes · Originally published 2026-09-29