The Automatic-sorting for Circularity in Textiles project (ACT UK) is a two-year pilot project (2023–2025) focused on developing solutions and designing infrastructure to manage the UK’s unwanted and unusable clothing and textiles.
The project is unlocking the potential of worn-out textiles through three key workstreams:
- Textile collections and logistics
- Technology development
- Circular textiles ecosystems
Globally, the gap between the volume of used textiles discarded and the tiny fraction recycled into new textiles is staggering. For textile recycling to scale, we need a consistent, reliable stream of worn-out textiles to supply the system.
Under the ‘Circular textiles ecosystems’ workstream, WRAP and ACT UK partners have set out a bold vision: a revolutionised UK used textiles system, capable of supplying worn-out textiles that have been sorted and pre-processed domestically, for textile recycling. Central to this is a network of automated sorting facilities (otherwise known as Advanced Textile Sorting and Preprocessing facilities or ATSPs) — a critical intervention for long-term economic, environmental and social impact across the value chain.
A visualisation of the transition from the UK's current non-reusable textile system to a future system that benefits from radical innovation and advancement
Key insights
- Economic outcomes: A system built around ATSPs could significantly reduce overall costs for the UK compared to the current model and, could, once established, be a revenue generator and create jobs.
- Cost of inaction: Without intervention, the UK’s used textile sector faces extreme pressure and partial collapse. In a worst-case scenario, this could increase local authority gate fee costs by £64 million in the immediate term and up to £200 million by 2035, as well as a significant loss of income for the charity sector.
- Policy and investment: Effective policy (such as short-term immediate funding and longer term eco-modulated EPR) and investment are essential to support collection and sorting infrastructure.
- Product design: Future textiles must be designed for recyclability from the outset to increase material retention and improve the economic feasibility of ATSPs.
Our research reinforces the need for a systems-based approach. Consumer disposal habits cannot be changed without appropriate and accessible outlets for their worn-out clothing. Expanding textile collections requires new markets to be developed for collected materials, and ATSPs can only thrive with strong demand and commitment from brands for recycled content.