Recycling rate ≤ 10%! reusing the old clothes to achieve win-win

AIShred 2018-06-08

With the improvment of people’s living quality, municipal solid waste increase 9-10% per year. Among the 2400 tons waste clothes, only 10% of them can be reused, which exists a large distinction with developed countries. So, where are the waste clothes?

Recycling Rate ≤ 10%! Reusing the old Clothes to Achieve Win-win

For example, in 2016 the per capita consumption expenditure of urban residents in Beijing is nearly 40 thousand yuan, of which the proportion of clothing expenditure accounts for about 7% of the total expenditure, and presents a growing trend, with the discarding of a large number of old clothes. As the highest output of municipal solid waste city, the proportion of waste textiles in municipal solid waste is increasing. Not only in Beijing, the national frontline and second line cities show this trend, which shows that the stock of waste clothing is increasing, and the waste clothing as a recyclable living resource, throwing them into the garbage not only produces a large amount of living garbage, but also is a waste of resources.

At present, recycling old clothes in China are mainly in three ways: one is the traditional community old clothes recycling box; the second way is the old clothes recycling activities; the third one is Internet plus old clothes recycling platform. Usually, the old clothes recovered from the above channels are mostly used through public donations, and some of the unrecoverable clothes can be used for landfill or incineration. Because the recycling system of waste textiles in China is still in its initial stage, there is a problem of disorderly recycling channels and low utilization efficiency. Some of the discarded clothes are sold directly for second time, or even processed into "black hearted cotton" into the market.

It is predicted that by the end of 13th Five-Year, the social stock of China's chemical fiber textile will continue to increase by nearly 2 billion tons. Waste chemical fiber products are used through landfill or incineration, which not only pollutes the environment, but also causes great waste of resources. In April 27th, the Research Report on the development strategy of recycling technology of waste chemical fiber textile Resources issued by the Chinese Academy of Engineering pointed out that China is a big country for the production and application of chemical fiber in the world. However, while the industry is developing rapidly, the problem of disposal of waste products is becoming more and more urgent. At present, the domestic companies have the world's first chemical recycling technology, they can extract polyester raw materialsthe from waste clothing and realize the first application of circular economy mode in regenerated fiber industry. According to the China Textile Industry Federation, if all the waste textiles in China can be recycled, it is equivalent to saving 24 million tons of crude oil per year, saving nearly 1/3 of the cotton planting area and reducing the carbon dioxide emissions by 80 million tons.

Under the background of "environmental high pressure" and "import restriction of solid waste", recycling of waste clothes is the trend. GEP believes that, in the face of the low recycling rate of waste textiles, it is necessary for the government to make clear the legal provisions, provide policy support, encourage the development of regular enterprises, and strengthen supervision so as to make the flow of waste clothes clear. It can also learn from foreign experience, set up charity bazaars, charity shops, etc., to broaden the channels for diversified reuse. In this way, the idea that "old clothes should not be lost" will be agreed and practiced by more people.

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