Asia-Pacific Textile Recycling Market Outlook, 2029

The last couple of decades have witnessed influential changes in the textile recycling market in the Asia-Pacific region. Traditionally, compared to Western countries, APAC was less developed in terms of textile recycling. At the beginning of the 2000s, the concept behind APAC nations was focused on manufacturing and export-oriented economies with less emphasis given to recycling and sustainability. In the 2010s, several APAC countries had adopted policies targeting waste management and recycling.

For example, China is the biggest textile producer and exporter; since then, it has tried to pay more attention to the textile waste through its regulatory frameworks and initiatives that enhance efforts at recycling. Japan and South Korea have also put in decent efforts by introducing better recycling technologies and setting as ambitious targets for recycling as possible. That is to say, technological improvement in the recycling process is one of the major drivers for the market. Advanced sorting technologies, notably AI and robotics, have hugely increased efficiency in sorting and processing textiles.

Chemical recycling methods are also emerging that can reprocess complex textiles which earlier could not be processed. One of the persistent challenges is related to the management of the quality and contamination of textile wastes. Mixed fibers and contaminants make the raw materials of poor quality and complicate their recycling process. As such, developing effective sorting and cleaning technologies that help address these issues in order to improve the quality of recycled textiles is very important. The APAC textile recycling market is developing and requires more investment and funding. More public and private investments can be made to improve technologies and facilities in the region. Government-backed initiatives and grants for developing advanced facilities and research into new technologies are underway.

For instance, the 13th Five-Year Plan by China includes projects aimed at green development, circular economy, and environmental protection; under this scheme, funds will be provided to different recycling projects. The role of private investors and venture capitalists as key financiers of startups and technology companies focused on textile recycling is fast improving. The latest deal included an investment in Ambercycle and another in Circular Systems for having developed new recycling processes and new sustainable materials, respectively. In 2015, India emerged as the world’s largest importer of worn clothing and used textiles. US, UK and Germany were the top 3 exporters. As per latest United Nations Comtrade data, India imported USD 186M in 2017 as against just USD 37M in 1997. The emergence of used clothes processing market in India was largely originally seen as serving for charity, especially in Africa.
According to the research report "Asia-Pacific Textile Recycling Market Overview, 2029," the Asia-Pacific Textile Recycling market is expected to reach a market size of more than USD 2 Billion by 2029.The impact of textile recycling on the environment in APAC shall be deep, focusing on aspects such as waste management, resource conservation, and pollution reduction. With recycling, huge amounts of waste will be averted landfills and incineration, thereby lessening the ecological footprint of the waste disposal for the textiles. For example, recycling one ton of textiles avoids several tons of CO2 to mitigate greenhouse gas effects.

Besides, recycling textiles saves a lot of resources by reducing the demand for virgin raw materials; less burdening on natural resources used in the production process, such as water and energy. Fluctuating prices of the raw materials and cheap textile production could individually blow a harmful effect on the economic viability of textile recycling. Cost effective recycling technologies and financial incentives during the recycling process will also help to enhance economic feasibility. The regulatory and policy environment is developing and is one of the main driving forces of the APAC textile recycling market. Across the region, governments are framing policies aimed at improving the capabilities of waste management and recycling.

For instance, some of the new regulations in China, like the "14th Five-Year Plan for Ecological and Environmental Protection," have emphasized the need to recycle or adopt circular economy practices. Similarly, stringent recycling targets and promotion of responsible waste management are provided through Japan's "Home Appliance Recycling Law" and South Korea's "Act on the Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles."

Market Drivers

• Rising Environmental Concerns: Environmental concerns are becoming more prominent in the APAC region, driving the demand for textile recycling. Issues such as pollution, resource depletion, and waste management are gaining attention, leading to increased support for recycling initiatives. Governments, businesses, and organizations are taking steps to address these concerns through policies, regulations, and sustainability programs. The rising awareness of environmental impacts is encouraging the adoption of recycling practices and contributing to the growth of the textile recycling market in the region.
• Economic Growth and Urbanization: The APAC region's rapid economic growth and urbanization are driving the demand for textile recycling. As economies expand and urban areas develop, there is an increase in textile consumption and waste generation. The rising middle class and higher disposable incomes contribute to greater textile waste volumes. This trend creates opportunities for the textile recycling market to expand and address the growing waste challenges. The combination of economic growth and urbanization highlights the need for effective recycling solutions to manage increasing textile waste.

Market Challenges

• Regulatory and Policy Barriers: The APAC region faces regulatory and policy barriers that can hinder the growth of the textile recycling market. Inconsistent regulations, lack of enforcement, and limited incentives for recycling businesses can create challenges in establishing and scaling recycling operations. The absence of standardized recycling practices and supportive policies can impact the effectiveness of recycling efforts. Addressing these regulatory and policy barriers is essential for creating a conducive environment for the textile recycling market to thrive.
• Quality and Contamination Issues: Ensuring the quality of recycled textiles and addressing contamination issues are significant challenges in the APAC region. Mixed and contaminated textile waste can complicate the recycling process and affect the quality of recycled materials. The presence of various fibers, dyes, and finishes in textile waste adds to the complexity. Implementing effective sorting technologies, cleaning processes, and quality control measures is crucial for improving the quality of recycled textiles and enhancing market growth.

Market Trends

• Innovative Recycling Technologies: The APAC region is witnessing the adoption of innovative recycling technologies that enhance the efficiency of textile recycling. Technologies such as chemical recycling, which breaks down textiles into their basic components, and advanced sorting systems using AI and robotics are becoming more prevalent. These innovations improve the processing and quality of recycled textiles, supporting the growth of the market. The focus on technological advancements reflects a commitment to improving recycling practices and addressing textile waste challenges.
• Collaborative Efforts and Partnerships: Collaborative efforts and partnerships are emerging as a trend in the APAC region to promote textile recycling. Governments, businesses, and non-profit organizations are working together to develop recycling infrastructure, establish standards, and raise awareness about sustainable practices. These collaborations aim to enhance recycling systems, increase recycling rates, and foster innovation in the sector. By pooling resources and expertise, stakeholders are driving progress in the textile recycling market and supporting the transition to a circular economy.

The dominance of the cotton segment in APAC textile recycling market is due to its wide availability and high recyclability and increasing emphasis on sustainability and circular economy principles.

The high level of diffusion in the APAC region creates a ready pool of post-consumer waste supply for recycling. The abundance, coupled with the environmental benefits of recycling cotton, has made the segment one of the front-runners in the market. In the APAC region, several countries have started developing programs and policies that support textile recycling.

For instance, Japan has taken the lead in textile recycling, thanks to high-end waste management systems and technologies. Innovative goals in waste reduction and reprocessing, by the Japanese Government, has led to innovation towards the sector of textile recycling. Japanese companies, like Teijin and Toray, have developed innovative technologies able to recycle cotton and other textiles in high-quality products, such as insulation materials and new fabrics. In India, the textile industry occupies a very significant place and is among the largest sectors. Cotton is a dominant fiber in the textile industry.

The Indian government has formulated various schemes and policies related to the promotion of textile recycling, such as the Swachh Bharat Mission for reducing waste and encouraging its reprocessing. Besides, social enterprises like Goonj and Saahas are working toward a 'circular economy' in textiles by collecting post-consumer cotton waste and recycling it into new products, providing employment opportunities, and reducing impacts on the environment. China, being one of the largest producers and consumers of textiles in the world, has also reached the point where it realized the importance of recycling textiles.

This has made the Chinese government put textile waste as part of its national recycling policies and building its capacity with respect to infrastructure for recycling. A corporation like the H&M Foundation has worked with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel to develop state-of-the-art technologies for recycling, including the Green Machine, which can separate and recycle cotton blends into new fibers.

Apparel Waste is leading in the textile recycling market in the Asia-Pacific region is due to its high growth in textile manufacturing and consumption, coupled with rising environmental awareness and government initiatives to tackle the challenges of waste management.
In the past decades, the APAC region, especially countries like China, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam, occupied the global position for textile and apparel manufacturing. This focus on production has resulted in large accumulations of pre-consumer textile waste, from fabric wastes and defective items through to overstock. Indeed, it is estimated that 20-25% of the resources in the textile industry in China producing about half of the world's textiles go to waste during the manufacturing process.

This pre-consumer waste offers a much more readily recyclable stream of materials than the post-consumer waste, for the simple reason that it is of single fiber types and not subjected to wear and tear. The 14th Five-Year Plan of China, 2021-2025, is focused on the development of the circular economy, stating goals for both textile recycling and reuse. Japanese legislation includes the Act on Promotion of Resource Circulation for Plastics, which encapsulates provisions relating to textile recycling, in particular in respect of synthetic fiber materials. The draft of India's National Resource Efficiency Policy makes some recommendations to enhance resource efficiency in the textile industry, providing targets for recycling. For example, Hong Kong-based textile and apparel manufacturer Novetex has developed a waterless textile recycling system, known as The Billie System, which can process up to three tons per day of waste textiles. In Japan, firms such as Teijin and Toray have developed sophisticated chemical recycling technologies for polyester fibers that finally enable true fiber-to-fiber recycling. Some new ways of collecting and sorting textile waste have also been developed in the region. For example, the textile recycling company TRAID has worked with retailers in Singapore to provide collection bins in stores, so consumers can recycle old clothes when it is convenient to do so. Some municipalities in South Korea have what they call "clothing donation trees" public collection points designed to look like trees, in order to stimulate citizen interest in textile recycling. For example, researchers at the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel have developed a way to separate cotton-polyester blends, one of the major issues standing in the way of textile recycling.
The leading position of post-consumer textile recycling in the APAC market is due to the strongly growing middle class within this region, along with increasing environmental awareness and government initiatives that raised the demand for sustainable and responsible practices in recycling textiles.

Government has been at the forefront in promoting post-consumer textile recycling in the APAC region.

For instance, the Chinese government has been working on several sustainable development initiatives, including the "Made in China 2025" strategy, where it aims to create an upgraded version of 'Made in China' by enhancing the country's manufacturing capabilities and encouraging green and sustainable production. Similarly, the Japanese government instituted the "3Rs" initiative aimed at reduction, re-use, and recycling of waste, including textiles. The "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" or Clean India Mission has been undertaken in India, where the inclination is toward waste management and recycling, including textile wastes.

Innovative technologies developed for textile recycling in APAC include mechanical, chemical, and upcycling. These technologies make it possible to recycle a large variety of fibers, from pure cotton and polyester to blends. For example, Japanese Teijin Frontier has developed technology to recycle polyester fibers from post-consumer textiles for the production of new clothing and textiles. Similarly, Indian Welspun has developed technology for recycling cotton fibers from post-consumer textiles for manufacturing new yarns and fabrics.

The APAC region has also seen tremendous growth in the number of textile recycling startups and different entrepreneurs innovating for a solution to its problem of textile wastes. For example, The R Collective, a Hong Kong-based startup, has developed a platform for collecting and recycling post-consumer textiles, which are then upcycled into new clothing and accessories. Similarly, an Indian startup, Bomber Jacket, has developed technology to recycle plastic waste, including polyester textiles, into new products such as bags and accessories.

Mechanical recycling leads the textile recycling market in the APAC region because of the general growth in the textile industry and rising environmental awareness, alongside government initiatives to help the cause of sustainability.
The Asia-Pacific region, specifically countries like China and India, has acted to be the biggest platform of textile production and consumption. This has generated a huge quantity of textile wastes annually and turned out to be a big environmental concern. Mechanical recycling, a process that physically grinds used textiles into some form of fiber which can be reprocessed into same quality raw material, is an effective practical solution for such problems.

This process is cost-effective and able to sort out raw materials, including cotton and polyester; therefore, it is suitable for this great diversity of textile waste in the region. In support of the growing market for recycled textiles, mechanical recycling processes have been continuously fine-tuned and updated to ensure higher quality outputs that can compete with virgin fibers. Government policies in APAC countries are increasingly helping the recycling cause.

For instance, China has made strict laws regarding waste management and has promoted recycling as a part of its holistic environment policy. The country has come up with programs that encourage the recycling of textile wastes, hence the existence of many recycling plants. Similarly, India has also realized that its booming textile industry must become more sustainable and has begun various initiatives aimed at building its recycling capacity to slash waste generation. Circular economy practices are increasingly being adopted by fashion brands in APAC by way of reducing waste and increasing the use of recycled materials.

China is considered to be a giant in textile recycling because of its immense production and consumption of volumes so huge that results in a huge volume of wastes.

The textile industry in China is incomparable because it is the manufacturing hub in the world; hence, the waste that comes out of it every year is huge. This huge amount, therefore, has necessitated the development of an all-inclusive infrastructure for recycling, mitigating environmental hazards resultant from these wastes. Fast industrialization and economic growth have therefore pumped huge investments into the development of recycling technologies and facilities to make the country a world leader in that sector. Besides, the huge labor force in China coupled with competitively low production costs makes operations in the country relatively cheap.

While indeed issues like pollution and low recycling rates do persist, the sheer size of the problem in China has created an urgent economic argument to develop and scale up recycling solutions. The Chinese government is fully aware of the potential environmental and economic values of textile recycling and has related policies to help the industry grow. Some of these policies include incentives for the recycling business, reduction of wastes from textiles, and funding research and development. Other than these policies, this company also has a well-established supply chain and logistic network that facilitates timely collection and transport of textile wastes to be recycled. In spite of all the odds, the sheer scale of production and consumption of textiles in China, when matched with government support and industry investment, makes it a world leader in the area of textile recycling.

• Ecohike, has invested in the research and development facility for turning trashed PET water bottles into T-shirts. The founders claim that they require only 12 PET water bottles to make one T-shirt. This process, in turn, reduces nearly 250 grams of landfill waste.

Considered in this report

• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report

• Textile Recycling market Outlook with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Material

• Cotton
• Polyester & Polyester Fiber
• Nylon & Nylon Fiber
• Wool
• Others

By Source

• Apparel Waste
• Home Furnishing Waste
• Automotive Waste
• Others

By End-Use Industry

• Apparel
• Home Furnishings
• Industrial & Institutional
• Others

By Textile Waste

• Post-consumer
• Pre-consumer

By Process

• Mechanical
• Chemicals

The approach of the report:

This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience

This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Textile Recycling industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.


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