Looming textile waste concern

Tonnes of clothing discarded daily into landfill

By Sonia Isaacs

THE Sunshine Coast Council’s Environment Councillor, Maria Suarez, has raised concerns over the scale of textile waste, with national figures showing hundreds of thousands of kilograms ending up in landfill daily. 

In a move to address the problem, the Council recently partnered with textile recycler Blocktexx to launch the ‘Give a Sheet for the Planet’ campaign. 

Cr Suarez praised the initiative as a straightforward but effective way to dispose of unwanted items while aiding the environment. 

“Every 10 minutes, Australians discard 6,000 kilograms of textiles and clothing into landfill,” she said, stressing the potential impact of local efforts like this.

A Blocktexx spokesperson highlighted that the campaign targets household linen, a category often excluded from regular council recycling schemes. 

“These textiles have no other disposal route than household garbage bins and landfill,” they said, noting the initiative’s commitment to a circular economy that benefits local communities. The Sunshine Coast event, held on November 16, successfully collected 3,056 kilograms of household linen, preventing it from ending up in landfill. 

New data from Seamless, Australia’s leading clothing stewardship scheme, underscores the scale of the challenge. In 2023, over 222,000 tonnes of clothing were still sent to landfill, despite a shift towards second-hand clothing. 

The report, released on November 14 2024, revealed that Australians are buying fewer new clothes but textile waste remains a persistent issue. 

Dr Deborah Fisher from the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Design School of Business and Creative Industries pointed out that textile waste encompasses more than just clothing. 

“It covers materials like curtains, upholstery, and carpets that are at the end of their lifecycle,” she said. 

“These items often end up in charity shops, which frequently struggle with the burden of disposal.” In 2023, Australians purchased 1.42 billion items of clothing—an average of 53 pieces per person. 

Data from Planet Ark shows that the typical Australian discards 23 kilograms of fashion waste annually, with two-thirds made of nonbiodegradable synthetic fibres. 

A recent study by RMIT University, released on November 21 2024, found that most donated clothes are either exported or discarded, prompting calls for major reforms in fashion waste management. 

The RMIT study, published in Nature Cities, followed the fate of unwanted clothing and revealed that textiles are often exported, sent to landfill, or abandoned—contributing to a global crisis. 

Worldwide, 92 million tonnes of textile waste are dumped in landfills each year, a figure projected to double by 2030. sonia@gcnews.com.au