Only 1% of all clothing is recycled into re-usable textile fibres today, 73% ending up in landfill. A two-year project in Belgium therefore researched (and found) ways to significantly increase the value of discarded textiles. From waste to raw materialThe European Union has made separate textile collection mandatory since this year and is also rolling out extended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles. This means that fashion players will soon have to pay for the collection and recycling of used clothing. Fortunately, according to Labs on Fibre, a project in collaboration with Flemish secondhand shops, value can still be extracted from these waste streams.