About Recycling
Industry Recycling Vision: Reduce Solid Waste by Reducing / Reusing / Recycling
Textile Recycling, often referred to as the “Original” Recycling, is the world’s oldest form of recycling. Over 3.8 billion pounds of textile waste is diverted from landfills each year by our recycling efforts.(1) Clothing and household textiles currently represent 5.2% of the waste stream filling our landfills.(1)
The US has lagged behind the European Union (EU) for decades in recycling efforts. For example the EU has classified textiles as waste and has mandated textile recycling since 1993.(1) As a result, EU diverts 50% of textile waste from landfills to recyclers compared to the US only recycling 25%.(1)
Cycla’s is driven to help customers maximize their recycling efforts through the purchase of their recyclable secondary materials.
- REDUCE consumer waste through the distribution of reclaimed materials (textiles, metals, plastics, etc. recovered in pure or usable form) vs. newly manufactured materials.
- REUSE products through domestic retail or wholesale outlets or by exporting to developing countries, particularly clothing, shoes, accessories, and books.
- RECYCLE products to transform for further use, such as transforming garments, towels and institutional linens into wiping cloths for industrial use.
- Carbon Footprint Reduction
- Clean Air Preservation
- Reduced Energy Consumption
- Water & Woodland Conservation
- Small business promotion – the textile recycling industry is comprised of many small businesses with no one company controlling more than 4% of the market(1)
- Job creation within the local and global communities
- Charitable funding – many local and national non-profits economically benefit from the sale of excess donated goods to recyclers
- Creation of affordable products
- Sales tax revenue to local government
- Creates market for excess goods generating real revenue for business
- Reduces excess waste disposal costs
- Increases community awareness of your business contribution to the environment resulting in higher level of donations and purchases
(1) Source: SMART – Secondary Materials and Recycled Textile Association