China to Ramp up Textile Recycling Capability

China, the world’s largest producer of textile products, has unveiled a guideline as a roadmap to ramp up its capability to recycle textile waste.

The country aims to recycle a quarter of its textile waste and produce two million tonnes of regenerated fiber products annually by 2025, according to a document unveiled by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

By 2030, a relatively complete system for textile waste recycling will have been established, and China will be able to recycle 30 percent of its textile waste and produce three million tonnes of regenerated fiber products annually, said the document.

Incentives will be rolled out to encourage companies to improve product design so that textile products can be more easily dismantled, classified, and recycled after being discarded, said the document.

Only about one-fifth of the roughly 22 million tonnes of textile waste generated in China in 2020 was recycled. The amount of regenerated fiber products recycled from the waste was around 1.5 million tonnes.