Eco-Friendly Guide for Linen Recycling

What Is Linen Recycling?

Linen recycling is the process of making new products or reusing linen fabric. The process comes with many advantages, including minimizing energy consumption, the need for fresh raw materials, and reducing water and air pollution. Linen recycling helps us stop waste and reuse linen products after they have served their original function.

Some of the linen textiles we can recycle include bedsheets, curtains, clothes, towels, and pillow covers. Any linen products in your cupboards and wardrobes you no longer use are candidates for recycling. You can channel these linen products for reuse or charity organizations. Also, you may sell them online. The basic steps in linen recycling include collection, donation, sorting, processing textiles, and transporting the processed linen products to end users.

The growth of the linen recycling industry is also due to linen manufacturers. The global textile industry is estimated to be worth about $1 trillion, and it comprises linens, mattress and furniture material, cleaning materials, draperies, clothing, and leisure equipment.

Linen textiles for recycling come from two primary sources:

• Post Consumer goods. These are used garments, household linen products like bedsheets and pillowcases, and vehicle upholstery.
• Pre Consumer linen textiles. Linen fabric and yarn manufacturers create scrap by-products as raw materials in linen recycling factories.

Before recycling, the linen textiles are assessed and sorted to evaluate if they fit reuse or recycling. The items in good condition are sold as secondhand goods, and if they can’t be repurposed, they are sent to linen recycling plants. Some of the proceeds from the sales are used to support local textile recycling programs.

How to Recycle Linen

Recycling old linen may take different forms depending on the condition of the textile. Here are the steps to take to start recycling linen:

1. Donating

   a). Organizations That Seek Textile Donations
   Donating linen clothing is one of the best ways to recycle. You can donate these used textiles to your local church, nonprofit, or community organization. By recycling your old textiles, you’re giving the clothes a new chance with a new owner instead of dumping them in a dustbin to end up in landfills. Remember, you cannot donate scraps of tattered clothes. Instead, they would need to be recycled.

   After donating your clothing, some groups may sell them and use the money for environmental conservation or charity. The organizations can also donate the textiles to other individuals in need or send them to textile-processing companies for recycling.The old linen textiles you may not find worth selling could be of great help to someone in underdeveloped countries. When donating your old clothes, ensure they are dry clean, odorless, and in the best condition. They should also be functional without any missing buttons and broken zippers or rips.

   b). Clothing and Textile Collections
   Unfortunately, most municipalities do not offer the option of placing fabrics in recycling bins. However, some organizations and programs offer textile recycling programs. Search for such organizations in your area, contact them, and know their requirements.

   For example, if you reside near Auckland, California, you can send your linen textiles to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. In New York, you can contact GrowNYC and know what you can send your old textile to them. GrowNYC accepts everything, including dry and clean clothing, handbags, belts, shoes, linens, and fabric scraps.

   In Kirkland, you can drop your textiles for recycling into the designated carts. For those residing in Western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, you can send your linens to the Center for Creative Reuse.

   You can also take your unwanted linen clothing shopping with you. Most retailers offer shopping discounts and have donation bins to deposit unwanted cleaning textiles. Examples include the North Face, Columbia, Levi Strauss & Co, and NA-KD. When doing your regular shopping for clothing, ask the retailers if they accept used clothing.

   Most textile recycling programs in the US have witnessed resounding success from the communities around them because people deposit beddings, clothing, curtains, and all manner of old textiles into their programs.

2. Sorting and Shredding

   When recycling used linen, the first step is to sort the fabrics according to color and material. Linen textiles that need dyeing are set aside to reduce the need for redyeing using chemicals. Sorting the fabrics according to color and material helps save water and energy and reduce pollution.

   After sorting the linens, the fibers are pulled and shredded according to the intended use of the yarn. They may add other fibers to the mix to create the desired product.

   Note: The recycling process of synthetic fibers is different from natural fibers.
   

3. Transforming or Fixing

   After shredding, linen is cleaned and mixed via a carding process. It is then respun and made available for knitting and weaving. Some fibers are not respun but are compressed and used as a textile filling, like mattresses. Recycled linen fiber offers a feeling of freshness and is hygienic. Another way of recycling is to repurpose it in sofas and punching bags.

4. Reselling It

   The ready-made linen yarns are then used in knitting new fabric. Alternatively, they are sent to flocking industries where the fibers are attached to a surface and are used to make filling materials for panel lining like furniture padding, loudspeaker cones, and house insulation. You can support linen recycling by buying new products made from recycled old linen. When shopping, check for products that include recycled linen.

Environmental Benefits of Linen Recycling

Linen is recyclable and 100% biodegradable, making it one of the best eco-friendly materials. The following are some of the environmental benefits of recycling linen.

1. Recycling Provides Low-Cost Quality Clothing

   Raw materials generated from recycled linen cost less, making them more attractive to manufacturers. As a result, the manufacturers create new clothing more affordably. Linen fabric created from recycled materials also helps save energy.
   

2. Reduces Pressure on New Resources

   Recycling linen means we can get fibers locally and therefore don’t have to import as much. This helps save energy and minimize pollution. Recycled linen does not need to be redyed or scoured, and you don’t have to wash the materials thoroughly. Also, less water is used than new linen fibers.

   Recycling linen fibers also helps reduce the demand for textile chemicals such as fixing agents and dyes. Since we don’t need virgin resources to create used linen textile, it’s possible to reduce pressure on new resources.

3. Recycling Offers both Environmental and Economic Benefits

   High energy and water usage are some of the environmental issues associated with the textile manufacturing industry. Also, fabrics made from synthetic fibers end up in landfills and take over a hundred years to decompose, polluting the atmosphere. The synthetic fibers act as fertile grounds for the spread of infectious diseases and produce an awful smell. For example, woolen fabrics don’t decompose, producing methane gas that leads to global warming. Using recycled linen can help reduce textile waste that ends up in landfills and minimize environmental pollution.

4. Recycling Saves Energy and Reduces Pollution

   Linen recycling helps avoid pollution and energy-intensive procedures that involve making textiles from fresh, raw materials. Also, the space required for landfills is reduced when we use recycled linen.

5. Protecting the Planet for Future Generations

   Synthetic fibers used for making fabrics can harm the planet because they do not decompose. Again manufacturing textiles, including biodegradable ones, has a significant effect on the environment because they require large amounts of water and energy. Also, the chemicals used in textile manufacturing pollute the earth. By using recycled linen, it’s possible to reduce greenhouse emissions and protect the planet for future generations.