Textile Waste Management

The textile industry suffers a great deal of material waste which is inevitable due to the variable nature of fibers, fiber-machine interaction, and the lack of purity of the raw material. Textile waste can be classified as pre-consumer and post-consumer. Creation of new markets for waste products encourages recycling in textiles. In general, there are four ways of handling waste. In order of priority, they are: waste reduction, recycling, incineration, and landfills. Few textile companies process their own waste while most of the companies sell their waste to textile waste processors. Recycling methods should be technically feasible, ecologically friendly and economically viable. There are two main processes for recycling textile wastes: tearing process and cleaning process. The physicochemical processes vary from artificial aging of the interface through to its actual integration. Sanitary landfills should be the last alternative in an integrated waste management system after source reduction, recycling and incineration.