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 goal is to show that the UK’s worn-out textiles can be captured, sorted, and processed domestically—to eventually be supplied for textile recycling. This will help prevent textiles from being sent to landfill, incineration, or to overwhelmed overseas markets—keeping it at its highest value and contributing to the economy.
This project is being delivered by a consortium of partners, including WRAP, and is led by the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) with funding through Innovate UK. It is part of a broader Circular Fashion Programme, supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Unlocking value in every item
Each year, nearly half of all used textiles in the UK—about 35 items per person—are chucked in the bin by households. But even damaged, torn, or stained clothes are valuable resources for a circular textiles economy.
ACT UK is unlocking the potential of worn-out textiles through three key workstreams:
- Textile collections and logistics: Optimising used textile collections in the UK and gathering insights into people’s knowledge and behaviours towards their unwanted textiles.
- Technology development: (1) Developing a state-of-the-art automated sorting facility design. (2) Identifying and testing existing and emerging textile identification, conveyance and pre-processing technologies to inform where technologies will need to continue developing to meet textile recycling requirements. This particular workstream was led by Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems and the Manufacturing Technology Centre, further details on their findings are available on the UKFT website.
- Circular textiles ecosystems: (1) Establishing the business case and feasibility of a network of automated sorting facilities in the UK. (2) Defining a vision for the future of the UK’s used textiles system—a system where the UK increases the value of worn-out textiles and contributes to the supply of materials for textile recycling globally.
Findings from ACT UK are also helping to inform the closing the loop workstream under WRAP's UK Textiles Pact voluntary initiative (formerly Textiles 2030) and driving progress on the UK Textiles Pact Circularity Roadmap.
WRAP's project findings and recommendations
Explore WRAP’s key insights and recommendations from the ACT UK project:
Textile collections and logistics
Between February and November 2024, Reskinned led a series of textile collection trials to assess whether the UK public could differentiate between reusable and worn-out textiles when clearing out their wardrobes. The objective was to establish if there could be a direct stream of materials from households to an automated sorting facility. Once concluded, the results from the trials were analysed by our team at WRAP. Use the button below to access our key findings.
Read our key findings
Circular textiles ecosystems
1: Business case review and feasibility assessment
WRAP conducted a business case review to assess the feasibility of building a network of automated sorting facilities in the UK to manage the nation's worn-out clothing.
In order to understand the full opportunity for the UK’s textile sorting sector, the assessment included market analysis, material requirements to service these facilities, and operating model configurations. The review also evaluated a standalone facility with the capacity to process around 25,000 tonnes of worn-out textiles annually. Use the button below to access our key findings.
Read our key findings
2: A future vision
In our final report, WRAP defines the ACT UK consortia’s vision for the future, outlining a revolutionised used textiles system that could see the UK benefit economically, environmentally, and socially from textile recycling. The vision explores this network of automated sorting facilities in the UK as an essential intervention towards the systems change needed for long-term impact across the whole value chain. Use the button below to access our key findings.
Read our key findings
What comes next?
Building on the fresh learnings from the project and in pursuit of the consortia's vision for the future, WRAP is launching the Textile Collections System Transition Programme to redesign and reimagine textile takeback collections.
Working with leading brands, we will establish best practice, co-create a coordinated programme of work, and implement a new approach to takeback which is easy for consumers, is more effective for brands and supports the collecting and sorting sector.
But infrastructure alone isn’t enough - we need effective policy. Under the UK Textiles Pact, we’ll be leading development of an industry-agreed EPR framework between 2025 and 2026, working with NGOs and government.
If your organisation is ready to take collective action, or wants to learn more about our findings, get in touch.