Apparently in the UK people chuck out about a million tonnes of textiles like clothes, shoes, towels, bedding and curtains, every year. If reused or recycled this would add £238,000,000 a year to the flagging UK economy.
The boffins have calculated that this means across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin we are producing about 8,000 tonnes of waste textiles every single year and this could be worth almost £2,000,000 to the local economy!
What a waste!
From a home composting perspective it is worth reminding people that of course any natural fibres can be composted at home. This includes cotton, denim, hemp, wool and even leather will rot eventually. Obviously man made fibres like polyester and nylon will not rot and should not be added and this includes any zips and buttons which will remain after decomposition and need removing.
But the thrust of this report is about getting more value from textiles and whilst making compost is economically attractive the material has more value if recycled. So we dont recommend home composting textiles, donate them to a charity shop or take them to the council run recycling centres instead. Just because you dont want something, someone else might and all types of textiles can be recycled. Even lower quality items which cant be resold as second hand can still be shredded down and used to make "shoddy" which is used in cushion stuffing and for lining car seats.
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