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At the end of life, post-consumer clothing in the UK either enters the municipal solid waste stream or is collected by way of an extensive network of clothing banks, charity shops and doorstep collections for recycling or reuse. This study reports the fibre/polymer composition of a large sample (n=34 635) of post-consumer clothing collected by The Salvation Army, one of the largest used clothing supply chain operators in the UK. The results revealed that 36·2% of the clothing items were of heterogeneous polymer composition, consisting of a blend or mixture of two or more fibre components; however, the largest fraction was composed of a single fibre type (excluding accessories and sewing threads). Cotton accounted for 54·7% of the total collected clothing and 22·6% was composed of polyester. There were no large geographical or collection source variations in terms of fibre compositions. A minimum economic recyclability index was approximated based on a potential value of fibre recyclate in post-consumer clothing that is currently directed to landfill.

It is estimated that less than 10% of the corporate clothing consumed in the UK is recycled or reused at the end of life and that around 10 000 t is landfilled. This represents a small but significant part of the total 1·1 million tonnes of textile material that is currently sent for disposal. Specific barriers to the reuse of corporate clothing include the security and corporate identity risks associated with reusing garments that carry distinctive insignia. Currently, because of the ways in which such insignia are attached to the underlying fabric they cannot be economically removed at the end of life. This situation reflects the fact that the majority of garments, including those produced for high-volume consumer markets, are principally designed for the point of sale and the use phase, with little concurrent design consideration given to promoting options for recycling and reuse at the end of life. Garment components are also difficult to disassemble because of their constructional complexity. These issues directly impact on both the economic value and likelihood of down-cycling or landfill disposal at the end of life. In the context of design for disassembly new approaches are being developed that facilitate the rapid detachment of insignia (e.g. emblems, logos and labels) from corporate clothing at the end of life to enable increased levels of re-use and/or remanufacture.

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