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New technology can make it easier to recycle old clothes into new fabrics

Enormous amounts of clothing are thrown away. Almost none of it is reused or recycled.

Heap of mixed discarded clothing and textiles in a recycling facility.

The clothing industry accounts for 8-10 per cent of total CO₂ emissions. But there is hope: Recycling fibre can reduce CO₂ emissions by 91-97 per cent, compared to new fibre, according to Norsk Tekstilgjenvinning.

(Stock photo: iStock)

Svein Inge Meland Svein Inge Meland Freelance JOURNALIST

Presented by: Presented by: SINTEF

Published 25 June 2026 - 00:01

Textile waste is a gigantic environmental and climate problem globally. In 2022, more than 80,000 tonnes of textiles were thrown away in Norway alone. And the amount is increasing year by year.

For a long time, the solution in the wealthier part of the world has been to send textile waste to poorer countries.

Large amounts of discarded clothing are never reused and end up in landfills or are burned.

“Textile waste is a huge and complex problem. We have looked at just a small piece of the big puzzle,” says researcher Marianne Bakken.

Portrait photo of Marianne Bakken — “We have completed a pilot project with promising results,” says researcher Marianne Bakken at SINTEF.

Only one recycling plant so far

Industrial recycling of discarded clothing is almost non-existent.

The private company Norsk Tekstilgjenvinning (NTG) opened Norway’s first recycling plant in Sandefjord municipality in 2024.

Clothes that cannot be used by the plant are broken down into fibres through a mechanical process.

The fibres are sold to spinning mills to make yarn, which is then turned into new clothes. This applies to all types of textiles, including polyester and blended fabrics.

Accurate sorting is the key

NTG has collaborated with SINTEF on improving sorting technology.

Good sorting is crucial for textile recycling to be effective. One tonne of textile waste typically contains 2,000 garments made from many different fabrics and blends.

Textile waste can also include bed linen, towels, curtains, upholstery, and carpets.

“We have completed a pilot project with promising results,” says Bakken.

In the project, they set up a sensor system with a camera that has extremely high resolution, almost at a microscopic level.

"We believe that linking the data from these cameras with artificial intelligence will enable the sorting process to reveal what kind of fabric we’re dealing with, its structure, and the quality of the fibres," she says.

Ripping textiles into fibre

Today, some of the textile waste is recycled into low-value products like rags, mats, or insulation. A more precise sorting process would open up the possibility of reuse into high-value products.

“The recycling process requires good quality input to get good quality output. If you have accurate data about the textile’s structure and fibre quality, the machine that breaks down the textiles into fibres can be adjusted to yield the best possible result,” says Bakke.

Accurate sorting is therefore necessary to end up with a higher quality of recycled fibre, so that more of it can be used to make new, high-value products.

Better utilisation of textile waste will increase profitability because spinning mills will pay more for high-quality fibre.

Vilde Vraalstad adjusts an early camera setup while photographing a dress indoors. — Researcher Vilde Vraalstad takes a picture of her own dress with an early version of the camera setup.

Aiming for an EU project

The pilot project has been conducted in the lab and partly at NTG.

The SINTEF researcher notes that more work remains to be done to transfer the method to practical recycling when scaling up to large volumes that need to be sorted.

The hope is to start an EU project.

Close-up of pale textile threads and stray fibres on a dark background. — Example of a high-resolution textile image. The threads are approximately 0.2 mm thick.

“We need more experiments with different textiles and larger volumes. So far, we have used cameras and lighting that are off the shelf, and we’ve interpreted the images manually to find out which properties are possible to map. EU project funding would enable us to collect larger amounts of data and build algorithms using artificial intelligence," says Bakken.

Pål Erik Haraldsen, founder of NTG, is very interested in further developing the sorting technology.

“There’s huge potential in recycling more household textile waste. We hope we can continue what SINTEF has started,” says Haraldsen.

Close-up microscopic view of blue dress fabric threads woven into a knit pattern. — High-resolution image of the dress fabric showing two different types of threads and a knitting pattern that is not visible to the naked eye.

The EU is tightening regulations

The EU’s new waste directive aims to combat throw-away mentality and strengthen the recycling of discarded textiles.

From 1 January this year, all EU countries and Norway must implement a sorting process ensuring that clothing does not end up in residual waste.

Starting in 2028, the EU will require manufacturers to cover the costs of collecting, sorting, repairing, and recycling the clothes and shoes they make.

Pål Erik Haraldsen is the founder of Norsk Tekstilgjenvinning (NTG).

Major changes underway

Facilities for industrial textile recycling have only just started to emerge. Last year, NTG received 650 tonnes for recycling.

“The capacity can be scaled up to 30,000 tonnes annually – if enough money is invested,” says Pål Erik Haraldsen.

The ambitious founder believes major changes in recycling are underway.

“International interest is showing strong growth. I think a lot could happen quite quickly, and we need it to. People aren't exactly buying fewer clothes, and consumer numbers are on the rise,” he says.

NTG estimates that recycling fibre will reduce CO₂ emissions by 91 to 97 per cent, as compared to purchasing new clothes.

Inside the facilities of NTG — The premises of Norsk Tekstilgjenvinning, the only facility of its kind in Norway.

About textile waste

Globally, 92 million tonnes of textiles were discarded in 2025 (UNEP).
More than 80,000 tonnes of textiles were discarded in Norway in 2022.
The clothing industry accounts for 8-10 per cent of total CO₂ emissions.
In 2022, nearly 30,000 tonnes of textiles were collected by private and non-profit organisations. Of this, only 909 tonnes were reused in Norway.
Approximately 49,000 tonnes of used textiles and textile waste end up in residual waste. Sorting analyses show that nearly half could have been reused, recycled or repaired.
Nearly 32,000 tonnes of textile waste were shipped out of Norway in 2022.
Cotton has a climate footprint of 11-16.4 kilograms of CO₂ per kilogram of fibre, and high water consumption.
Polyester has a climate footprint of 1.7-4.5 kilograms of CO₂ per kilogram of fibre, and is linked to the spread of microplastics (mostly ending up in landfills in African countries). According to worldbank.org, half a million tonnes of microplastic fibres are released into the ocean annually.
Starting 19 July this year, the EU and Norway require discarded textiles to be separated out from household waste. The EU will also introduce a system where manufacturers must pay for the collection and recycling of the clothes they make.
Fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion are apparel business models where manufacturers copy fashion and produce large quantities quickly and cheaply. The clothes are often of poor quality and have a short lifespan.
The UN Fashion Industry Charter (which many players in the clothing industry have joined) aims to halve the textile industry's CO₂ emissions by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels). The charter also requires that the most common fabrics be recycled in a circular value chain.

Sources: 2023 Knowledge status for textiles and textile waste in Norway, NORSUS, (Norwegian Institute for Sustainability Research) and Norion Consult. earth.org.