Tenfold increase in polyester recycling in Europe by 2035?

Without targeted policy action to address both affordability and accessibility, grand-scale polyester recycling will not happen. That’s the conclusion of a new study that proposes ten ‘levers’ for change.

The global textile industry consumed 125 million tonnes of synthetic and natural in 2023, reports Systemiq. Even so, less than 1% of fibres purchased today are made from recycled textiles. An estimated 60−80% of global end-of-life textiles are still commonly being landfilled, incinerated, or leaked into the environment.

Tenfold increase

Bold action by recyclers, policymakers and brands is crucial in ensuring polyester recycling doesn’t get stuck in ‘pilot purgatory’.

In the best scenario, European output of recycled polyester from depolymerisation could grow from around 30 000 tonnes expected before 2028 to 300 000 tonnes annually by 2035. That’s almost a tenfold increase and would represent a 15% share of the polyester textiles consumed in Europe.

10 levers

Ten levers for change are detailed in Systemiq’s new report. They are:

1. Design for recycling. Approximately one-third of textile products could be redesigned without compromising functionality
2. Widespread separate collection and consumer awareness are essential to raising feedstock quantity. Alongside awareness campaigns to reduce contamination, average EU collection rates are assumed to reach 43% by 2030 and 50% by 2035.
3. Agreeing on feedstock specifications and aligning upstream and downstream roles would increase facility throughput, reduce transaction costs, facilitate market making and liquidity, and improve asset utilisation.
4. Clarity on trade rules for the export of textile waste. Setting precise legal boundaries that define the ‘end of waste’ and distinguishing reusables and recycled polyester pellets from waste would allow only reusable materials or recycled polyester to be exported.
5. Demand-side policy incentives can generate predictable demand and accelerate market formation. These should include recycled content targets.
6. Brand and supply chain commitments must complement policy incentives. Long-term planning can increase the chances of absorbing smaller green premiums into product costs.
7. Reducing industrial electricity prices in the EU by 20% could lower depolymerisation costs by around 3%.
8. Derisking investments to lower the assumed weighted average cost of capital from 17.5% to 12% for depolymerisation and automated sorting investments could reduce costs by an additional 8%.
9. A financing gap of EUR 880 per tonne remains – about 60% of the original gap. Implementing an EPR fee of about EUR 250 per tonne in 2028 and rising to EUR 330 in 2035 could finance the net cost of collection, sorting, and recycling.
10. Shipping costs to international production value chains will need to be internalised by brands in the form of a green premium. It would be equivalent to the estimated shipping costs from Europe to Asia via bulk container shipping.