Textile waste is a growing problem — and Canada still isn't doing enough to solve it, experts say

At Paul Long's clothing store Anian, each garment gives new life to used wool. 

The fabric is recycled from discarded clothing from landfills and rag houses — warehouses full of second-hand clothing — in southeast Asia and Africa that eventually lands in Vancouver, where Long's team uses it to create new garments.

Long estimates his business kept 136 tonnes of textile waste out of landfills abroad in 2020 — around the weight of a blue whale — and he's hoping to make even larger strides in recycling in the future.

Textile waste, which comes from the manufacture of clothes and their eventual disposal into landfills, is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. 

While there are signs that governments are taking the problem seriously by providing more sustainable disposal options, some people in the recycling and textiles industries say Canada still lacks a lot of the infrastructure to properly re-purpose clothes — and that there is still too much reliance on other countries to break down our garments for us.

Long says the model of his business is "a step forward into understanding and reducing our textile waste," but much more can be done. 

"One day I would love to be able to, you know, set up a rag house here in British Columbia in the Lower Mainland, be able to cut off that whole sort of circular global supply chain and go straight from our own consumption to our own uses," he said. 

Textile waste is growing in large part due to increased sales of cheaper clothes and the trend of "fast fashion" that's leading to more garments being thrown out. On average, people are buying three times more clothes than they did in the 1980s, according to the City of Vancouver. 

Metro Vancouver residents throw out around 20,000 tonnes of textiles each year, which is equivalent to the weight of 44 T-shirts per person, according to Karen Storry, a senior engineer with the regional district. 

Much of that waste can be re-purposed. For a fourth year, Metro Vancouver is rolling out its Think Thrice Campaign to encourage residents to reduce how much clothing they buy, repair what they have, and donate instead of throwing away. 

Storry says people might not know they can recycle even badly damaged clothes. 

Across the region there are over 40 facilities collecting clothing that is ripped, stained, or worn out, according to the Metro Vancouver Recycles database, which has a map and lists drop-off locations.

"There actually are markets for your holy socks. And there actually are a lot of markets for your ripped jeans," said Storry.

B.C., she says, is a hub for sorter and grader facilities that sort through worn clothing — which can come from as far away as Manitoba and California — and find a new purpose for it.