The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), together with relevant departments, issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Recycling of Waste Textiles" (Fa Gai Huan Zi [2022] No. 526), setting explicit national-level development targets for waste textile recycling for the first time: by 2025, the recycling rate of waste textiles should reach 25%, with recycled fiber output reaching 2 million tonnes; by 2030, the recycling rate should reach 30%, with recycled fiber output reaching 3 million tonnes.

Key Points

  • In 2020, China generated approximately 22 million tonnes of waste textiles, with a recycling rate of about 20% and recycled fiber output of about 1.5 million tonnes.
  • The Implementation Opinions deploy full-chain management across the production, collection, and comprehensive utilization stages, proposing to promote second-hand clothing trading and guide the standardization of second-hand clothing exports.
  • Uniformed garments such as decommissioned military uniforms, police uniforms, and school uniforms will serve as breakthrough points for recycling, with pilot programs in key areas.

China is the world's largest textile producer, accounting for over 50% of global textile fiber processing. As clothing replacement cycles shorten, the volume of waste textiles continues to grow. In 2020, waste textile generation was approximately 22 million tonnes, with a recycling rate of about 20% and recycled fiber output of about 1.5 million tonnes, leaving significant room for improvement. The Implementation Opinions chart a course for the medium- and long-term development of China's waste textile recycling industry.

On the production side, the Implementation Opinions require promoting green textile design to improve ease of disassembly, sorting, and recycling; encouraging priority use of green fiber raw materials and strengthening green product standards, certification, and labeling systems; and encouraging enterprises to implement the China Social Compliance 9000 for Textile & Apparel Industry (CSC9000T).

On the collection side, the document calls for improving collection networks, reasonably placing dedicated collection bins, and promoting bins in communities, government offices, shopping malls, and campuses; making full use of internet-plus recycling and domestic waste sorting to collect waste textiles, and exploring new recycling models; and encouraging the construction of information platforms that integrate data on sources, quantities, and destinations to regulate recycling entities and practices.

On the comprehensive utilization side, it explicitly sets out requirements for standardized reuse for the first time, calling for orderly promotion of second-hand clothing trading, revision and formulation of standards and specifications for cleaning, disinfection, hygiene and epidemic prevention, and market trading of second-hand clothing, and guiding the standardization of second-hand clothing exports to ensure compliance with importing country (region) requirements. It also calls for expanding the scale of regeneration and recycling, promoting the application of recycled products in textiles, building materials, automobiles, agriculture, and environmental protection, and cultivating leading enterprises. Uniformed garments such as decommissioned military uniforms, police uniforms, and school uniforms will serve as breakthrough points, with capable enterprises organized in key areas to carry out recycling pilots, optimize technical pathways and market mechanisms, and form measures with Chinese characteristics distinct from those of other countries.

Regarding standards and technology, although national standards such as the "Technical Specification for Recycling of Waste Textiles" (GB/T 39781-2021) have been issued, the standards system remains fragmented and incomplete. The Implementation Opinions require improving a series of standards covering collection, disinfection, sorting, and comprehensive utilization, and establishing a sound standards system. Key technologies will be incorporated into the National Key R&D Program to accelerate breakthroughs in bottlenecks such as fiber identification, efficient sorting, separation of blended materials, and recycling. The "Clean Regeneration and High-Value Utilization Technology Project for Waste Textiles" has been listed as a 2020 project under the Ministry of Science and Technology's "Solid Waste Resource Utilization" key special program.

Regarding publicity and guidance, the Implementation Opinions propose promoting waste textile recycling through various channels, encouraging public institutions such as Party and government organs, schools, and hospitals to use recycled products, carrying out activities in schools and communities, incorporating recycling into energy conservation and environmental protection publicity themes, advocating a simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyle, and launching joint initiatives with well-known brands to use recycled fibers.

The document sets clear medium- and long-term quantitative targets for the second-hand clothing collection, sorting, trading, and recycled fiber industries, and for the first time incorporates the standardization of second-hand clothing trading and exports into the national policy framework, providing guidance for the standardized and scaled development of the industry.

Source: Accelerating the Construction of a Waste Textile Recycling System to Promote Standardized, Orderly, and High-Quality Industry Development — Expert Interpretation No. 1 of the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Recycling of Waste Textiles" · Originally published 2020-01-01