Material flow analysis of textile waste: : A case study of the Czech Republic

0565028 - ÚCHP 2023 RIV IT eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Shtukaturova, Anastasia - Šyc, Michal - Zach, Boleslav - Pavlas, M. - Šomplák, R.
Material flow analysis of textile waste: : A case study of the Czech Republic.
Proceedings SUM2022. Padova: CISA Publisher, 2022. ISBN N.
[SUM 2022 - 6th Symposium on Circular Economy and Urban Mining. Capri (IT), 18.05.2022-20.05.2022]
R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) SS02030008; GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_026/0008413
Institutional support: RVO:67985858
Keywords : textile waste * circular economy package * recycling * textiles
OECD category: Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

The constantly growing population and standard of living have, along with the phenomenon of fast fashion, caused a worldwide increase in textile consumption. The textile industry, like the food, construction, and automotive industries, is one of the main contributors to primary resource consumption, environmental pollution, and the production of waste and greenhouse gases. In 2018, the EU accepted the new Circular Economy Package (CEP) which requires each member state to transition to the circular economy in which the recycling of all types of usable waste is maximized. In the Czech Republic, a new waste treatment law was passed based on the Circular Economy Package in 2020. The new waste treatment law defines significant changes to existing methods of textile waste collection and treatment. As a basis for optimizing these systems, a material flow analysis (MFA) will be created to determine the current state with textile waste streams in the Czech Republic. Because of the lack of relevant existing data, a questionnaire for textile waste collection charities was first developed and then the authorities responsible for the environmental issues were involved. The results showed that the production of textile waste from households was 38 000 tons in the year 2019 and it is almost ten times higher than in the year 2010. The production of industrial textile waste was 88 000 tons in the year 2019 and there is no big difference comparing to the year 2010. Furthermore, analysis of municipal solid waste (MSW) samples showed that they contained 3-5% of different types of used textiles suitable for recycling. Surprisingly, according to official data, more complex textile waste from households is mostly recycled while more homogenous industrial textile waste suitable for recycling is more often incinerated or landfilled. Our results confirm that the Czech Republic is not well prepared to fulfill the ambitious goals of the CEP in respect to textile waste.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0336593