The Government Accountability Office was asked by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE), House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rose DeLauro (D-CT), and House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME) to review issues related to textile waste and recycling, including laws, agency documents, and leading practices for interagency collaboration. GAO analyzed how textile waste affects the environment, how and why the rate of textile waste has changed in the U.S. over the last two decades, and what federal actions should be taken to reduce textile waste, advance textile recycling, and opportunities for interagency collaboration.
GAO published their final report last week with recommendations for Congress, the EPA, the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Department of State, Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.
GAO used three figures, which you can see below, to illustrate the common pathways of discarded consumer textiles in the U.S., the current linear economy for textiles, and an example of a circular economy for textiles.
Figure 1 – Common Pathways for Textiles Discarded by Consumers
Figure 2 – The Current Linear Economy of Textiles in the U.S.
Figure 3 – An Example of a Circular Textile Economy
GOA notes that textile waste has increased due to multiple factors, “including a shift to a fast fashion business model; limited, decentralized systems for collecting and sorting textiles; and the infancy of textile recycling technologies.”
GAO included Goodwill and Helpsy Holdings as examples of organizations that offer collection and donation options for used textiles in the report and Ambercycle, Inc. as an example of a U.S.-based textile-to-textile recycling company.
They highlighted the disposal ban on textile waste in Massachusetts that was passed in 2022. The state identified that 5% of the total weight of their municipal solid waste streams were textiles.
Used textiles were … identified as a valuable commodity due to their reuse and recycling potential. The disposal ban on textiles includes clean and dry clothing, footwear, bedding, towels, curtains, fabric, and similar products.
One of the largest challenges was the lack of accurate data on textile waste because there is no national requirement for states to report municipal solid waste to the EPA. GAO used the EPA’s limited textile waste data and crosschecked it with the ITA’s textile and apparel import data from 2000 to 2023. The EPA does have a pending request with the Office of Management and Budget to collect municipal solid waste data from state agencies and revise its data reporting methods for the upcoming Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures Fact Sheet, however EPA officials said they do not know how many states will have textile waste data.
The report concluded by noting that the federal government is beginning to plan or implement efforts that reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling, but these initiatives are not coordinated. One of the key recommendations is the creation of an interagency mechanism to improve coordination.
Managing textile waste and recycling is not tasked to one federal entity. Because reducing textile waste and advancing textile recycling is still an emerging issue across federal entities, congressional direction could require them to take coordinated action to reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling. In addition to congressional direction, interagency collaboration is essential to implementing current and future efforts more effectively and efficiently. For example, EPA’s National Recycling Strategy has the goals of increasing the national recycling rate by 50 percent by 2030 and transitioning toward a circular economy nationwide, including for textiles. Increasing interagency collaboration through a mechanism that incorporates identified best practices, such as identifying and leveraging resources, may also help agencies better manage fragmentation amongst their efforts.
Nonfederal stakeholders, including local agencies and nonprofit organizations, are also piloting programs and efforts to reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling. Federal funding to support these efforts, such as grants from EPA and other federal entities, are available. However, information about potential federal sources is not easily accessible on EPA’s website. By making funding information more accessible, stakeholders could use funding toward efforts that help decrease the harmful environmental effects of textile waste or advance textile recycling technologies and infrastructure.