China, the producer of half the world’s textile fiber, has unveiled a guideline that aims to significantly beef up its capability to recycle textile waste, most of which is non-biodegradable. Experts have lauded the initiative for its potential role in promoting low-carbon, circular economic development, saying it will contribute to the country’s ambitious climate and pollution targets.
The country aims to recycle a quarter of its textile waste and use it to produce 2 million metric tons of recycled fiber annually by 2025, according to a document unveiled by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, and the ministries of industry and information technology, and commerce. Five years on, from 2025, a relatively complete system for textile waste recycling will have been established in the country, it said.
By then, China will be able to recycle 30 percent of its textile waste and produce 3 million tons of recycled fiber annually.
The commission said in a news release that as a key part of establishing and then improving a green, low-carbon, and circular economic system, recycling helps in resource conservation and the reduction of pollutants and carbon emissions.
Only about one-fifth of the roughly 22 million tons of textile waste generated in the country in 2020 was recycled, and China produced only 1.5 million tons of recycled fiber that year.
It is expected that the initiation of such targets could be a way forward to contribute positively to global issues.
