Textile waste - help maake a difference with our textiles

Studies have shown that every person in the United Kingdom  produces 3.1kg of textile waste each year. Help us make a difference

The United Kingdom produces 206.456 tonnes of textile waste, statistics say, which amounts to 3.1kg of clothes per person. That's a lot of clothing. Of that amount, only 0.3kg of clothes goes for recycling, and 0.4kg of clothes is reused. Here's another statistic: 1.7kg of clothing waste per person lands up in landfill.

This is why maake has taken action, and we ask you to do the same. After all, our textile industry is huge, and the impacts this clothing is having on the environment rises daily. 

How our textile industry can become more environmentally friendly and save on waste

Currently, the textile industry throughout the EU isn’t seen in a good light. During textile production, factories use a lot of water, land, energy and fossil fuels. They aren’t being sustainable.

Their manufacturing processes for fashion clothing industry and fabrics are associated with toxic chemicals, waste and pollution. And that’s before we start talking about employees’ conditions in the workplace. 

So it’s time to find new business models, to think about sustainability and chemical recycling as well as textile waste recycling and collection.

Manufacturing more sustainable textiles for clothing

Introducing new, more sustainable textiles to the clothing market can make a real difference to clothes’ overall environmental impact. 

So says the UK’s Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), which has been in place since 2020. Created by those in the industry, including clothes brands and retailers, material manufacturers and textile recyclers, SCAP’s policy is to lessen the impact of waste in worn fashion clothes in the United Kingdom.

This organisation has spent the past two years doing very valuable work. It’s convened various workshops and groups, set targets, measured and calculated progress. It has also shared expertise “so that a vast proportion of the United Kingdom’s textile industry can reduce the carbon, water pollutes and waste impacts of fashion clothes products.”

SCAP believes that creating more sustainable textiles for clothing is achievable and can make a difference to the clothes industry’s overall impact on the environment. The organisation is currently researching opportunities for choosing new, more sustainable raw fiber for the clothing and fast fashion industries. 

Sustainable methods to save on the textile waste problem

Along with other businesses in the textiles and clothing industries, we believe in sustainability and working towards saving the environment wherever possible. We use sustainable methods to save on textile waste and recycling.

Here’s some data on what we do as a sustainable printer and manufacturer: 

·    We print more sustainably: We use 95% less energy in our processes than traditional textile printing. We also use only 100% renewable energy sources.

·    We insist on zero waste: At maake, we don't waste a single textile. We send cut-off textiles and excess textiles waste free to local charities, schools and other educational institutions so that the textiles can be reused to make clothes and other items.

·    maake insists on recycling paper and ink waste: By recycling, we ensure that the waste won’t land up in landfill every year. 

·    We have cut down on the amount of electricity we use: To do this, we have fitted our machines with special cut-off switches. This technology saves on electricity consumption.

·    We only print on-demand: We only print exactly what our customers order, which means we produce no extra waste fabric. We also don’t resell or restock any printed textiles that people return to us. Instead, we create products out of those textiles.

·    We use no water when we print on cotton and linen: But there’s more… We use printing processes for these textiles that produce less than a thimbleful of ink waste per 100m printed.

·    We use sustainable, non-toxic inks: The inks we use when we print meet Oeko-Tex 100 and GOTS 6.0 requirements. These inks are also safe for kids – they are EN71-3 certified.

·    We only use ‘safe’ material: We only work with textiles that are ethically sourced and bought from trusted local mills wherever possible. This not only helps the local economy, it also reduces our carbon footprint. In addition, we only work with mills that are all REACH accredited. In fact, many mills also hold SEDEX accreditation.

Giving textiles a second life while helping citizen behaviour change

It’s time to take a page out of our book. Giving a textile a second life (recycling textiles) is something we do every day at maake, whether it's for making clothing or other products.

According to the organisation Wrap, who focuses on tackling climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it’s important to help create a circular economy. This involves taking resources already available on the planet, like clothes, and, instead of disposing these resources as garbage, rather recycling them by finding a use for them for as long as possible. Whether you remake the clothes and sell them or use the textiles for something else, you're recycling, which is great.

As textile manufacturers and printers ourselves, we are working towards creating circular economy action. We believe that reusing and recycling textiles can help our economy grow. These recycling efforts can help lessen the impact on nature and climate change, and assist people to lead more sustainable, healthier lives. That’s food for thought…

We have created our own charity, maake less textile waste and we work daily to help creatives to make a positive impact on textile waste disposal.

Email us at volunteer@maake.com with the headline ‘‘Let’s maake less textile waste‘‘ and we will add you to our charity volunteers!

You can choose to do as much or as little as your time allows you.

We strongly advocate collecting and reusing the textiles that we manufacture instead of textile waste disposal. Clothes recycling bins are a start, but we're taking clothes and textile recycling one step further.

We don't just use clothes recycling bins: what we do for fabric recycling 

We now offer free 1kg, 2.5kg or 15kg bags of plain material offcuts for clothes recycling collection. You can pick these up from our factory at no charge. Otherwise we can deliver them to your door. That's textiles waste collection whichever way suits you best!

By ordering one of these bags of plain material offcuts, you’re making a sustainable contribution to our planet, and saving these textiles from landing up in landfills. And you're getting textile waste free that you can use for your business by making clothing and other textile items.

Recycle these textiles by using them to make products for your business, whether it's clothes, tableware or home décor items.. As they are plain textiles, you can print on them, if you wish, or you can dye them and make clothing. Whatever you do, the products made from fabric waste are yours to use to help your business grow and put food on the table.

Let’s do some arithmetic… 1 x 15kg bags of textile offcuts that are not going to landfill is equivalent to saving the types of fabric waste (usually in the form of old clothes) usually used by 3 people each year.

Each time somebody orders one of those textile recycling bags, they are making a valuable difference to recycling textiles. And they are proving that by advocating sustainability we can make citizen behaviour change.

This information is certainly some more food for thought.

Think about it – and make a sustainable choice…

Your sustainability reward for textile waste disposal

Once you receive your free material offcuts from maake, we will send you our ‘maake less textile waste’ contributor certificate. It's your reward for saving fabric offcuts and making something out of them, whether it's clothing or something else for your business.

Share it with the world – take a photo with your certificate and tag all your friends and followers. Don't forget to tag us: @maakeuk. We’ll also add you to our extensive contributor list for the world to see!