What is Recycled Cotton?
Recycled cotton can be defined as cotton fabric converted into cotton fibre that can be reused in new textile products. This cotton is also known as reclaimed or regenerated cotton.
Cotton can be recycled from pre-consumer (post-industrial) and post-consumer cotton waste. Pre-consumer waste comes from the remains of yarns and fabrics that are discarded in the process of cutting and making clothing, home textiles and other textile accessories.
Post-consumer waste come from discarded textile products whose cotton fibers will be reused in the development of a new textile product.
The largest amount of recycled cotton is generated through pre-consumer waste. What originates from post- consumption is much more difficult to classify and reprocess due to the variety of colors involved and the mix of fibers.
Why is Recycled Cotton a sustainable material?
1) Less waste
Decrease the amount of textile waste that reaches landfills. It is estimated that, per second, a garbage truck with clothes arrives at a landfill. This represents about 15 million tons of textile waste per year. In addition, 95% of textiles arriving at landfills could be recycled.
2) Save water
Significantly reduce the amount of water used in the clothing production process. Cotton is a plant that needs a lot of water and there are already real facts about its impact, such as the disappearance of the Aral Sea in Central Asia.
3) Environmentally friendly
By using recycled cotton we don’t need to use more fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides. It is estimated that 11% of the world consumption of pesticides is related to cotton cultivation.
4) Less CO2 emissions
Reduction of CO2 emissions and water pollution resulting from dyeing. Textile dyeing is the second largest water polluter in the world, because what is left of this process is often dumped in ditches or rivers. As we use recycled cotton fibers, it is not necessary to dye it because the final color corresponds to the color of the waste.
Why we choose Recycled Cotton?
Recycled cotton textiles use pre and post consumer waste and helps to decrease the consumption of virgin cotton.
Using recycled fibers help to reduce the negative impacts of cotton farming like water consumption, CO2 emissions, intensive land use, level of insecticides and pesticides used and gives a new life to textile waste instead of ending in a landfill.
