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Sustainability & Recycling

Turning Waste into Wealth How Circular Textile Strategies Could Unlock US$50 Billion and 180,000 Jobs

• By  Textile Excellence
• August 21, 2025

Global textile waste soared to 120 million metric tonnes in 2024, with 80 % destined for landfills or incineration. Merely 12 % was reused, 7 % deemed recyclable, and under 1 % was converted into new fibre. If unchecked, waste could cross 150 million metric tonnes annually by 2030. This loss translates to a staggering US$150 billion in unrealized raw-material value each year.

Roadmap to Recovery: Jobs and Investments

BCG projects that raising recycling rates above 30 % could unlock more than US$50 billion in recovered fibre value and generate 180,000 new jobs globally. Achieving this requires aggressive action across five pillars:

·        Stimulating demand for recycled-fibre textiles

·        Boosting collection systems

·        Deploying advanced sorting technologies

·        Investing in scalable recycling solutions

·        Driving continuous innovation

Overcoming Technical and Systemic Barriers

Current recycling methods face technical overload. Manual sorting remains inefficient. Mixed and blended fibres complicate mechanical recycling, which today addresses only 15-18 % of textile waste and yields shorter, lower-quality fibres. Chemical recycling, while capable of handling complex blends, is costly and resource-intensive, contributing 3-10 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. Breakthroughs such as AI-enabled sorting using spectral imaging and deep learning offer a path forward, improving accuracy and scalability in fibre classification. Digital transformation across the value chain especially in collection, tracking, and sorting remains critical to bridging the circularity gap in textiles.

BCG projects that raising recycling rates above 30 % could unlock more than US$50 billion in recovered fibre value and generate 180,000 new jobs globally.