Sorting Textile Waste - Amsterdam Pilot Booklet Ch.3

Most people know that when they no longer need their textile products, they can drop them into a textile bin. However, it’s not often clear what happens to products after they are donated to charity organisations (e.g. Sympany, Reshare/Salvation Army, Sam’s Kledingactie) or to commercial textile collectors (eg. Curitas). While the collection of discarded clothing falls under the jurisdiction of waste collectors (e.g. Twente Milieu, ROVA, Circulus Berkel) in some municipalities, the collected textile products are always sorted for reuse and recycling. It’s a common misconception that discarded textile products are given to poor people in Africa and Asia, but that’s not the case. Most of the collected textiles are sold. Charity organisations then use those profits to support initiatives in both The Netherlands and developing countries. In fact, homeless shelters operated by the Salvation Army may well be paid by the revenue generated from the collection of discarded textiles!