Environmental impact of textile reuse and recycling - A review
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2018
The reviewed publications provide strong support for claims that textile reuse and recycling in general reduce environmental impact compared to incineration and landfilling, and that reuse is more beneficial than recycling. The studies do, however, expose scenarios under which reuse and recycling are not beneficial for certain environmental impacts. For example, as benefits mainly arise due to the avoided production of new products, benefits may not occur in cases with low replacement rates or if the avoided production processes are relatively clean. Also, for reuse, induced customer transport may cause environmental impact that exceeds the benefits of avoided production, unless the use phase is sufficiently extended.
In terms of critical methodological assumptions, authors most often assume that textiles sent to recycling are wastes free of environmental burden, and that reused products and products made from recycled materials replace products made from virgin fibres. Examples of other content mapped in the review are: trends of publications over time, common aims and geographical scopes, commonly included and omitted impact categories, available sources of primary inventory data, knowledge gaps and future research needs. The latter include the need to study cascade systems, to explore the potential of combining various reuse and recycling routes.
LCA
Clothing
Waste management
Collaborative consumption
Life cycle assessment
Circular economy
Författare
Gustav A Sandin
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
Gregory Peters
University of New South Wales (UNSW)
Chalmers, Teknikens ekonomi och organisation, Miljösystemanalys
Journal of Cleaner Production
0959-6526 (ISSN)
Vol. 184 353-365Drivkrafter
Hållbar utveckling
Ämneskategorier
Tvärvetenskapliga studier
Interaktionsteknik
Miljövetenskap
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.266