New PESCO-UP research finds that Europe’s textile-recycling scale-up is constrained simultaneously by feedstock quality, economics, fragmented supply chains, uncertain regulation and weak demand for recycled materials.
Europe will struggle to scale textile-to-textile recycling unless it addresses the economics and infrastructure around recycling alongside technology, according to a new PESCO-UP report examining barriers to textile circularity. The EU-funded study combines a literature review with 20 interviews spanning textile producers, retailers, collectors, sorters, recyclers and technology developers.
Seven barriers reinforce each other
The report identifies barriers across technology, finance, regulation, supply chains, behaviour, organisations and wider societal infrastructure. Around 73% of EU post-consumer textiles are currently landfilled or incinerated, indicating the scale of material still escaping circular systems.
Sorting remains a major technical constraint. Near-infrared systems can struggle with multilayer materials, carbon-black textiles and reflective surfaces, while recyclers often receive insufficient volumes of feedstock meeting their specifications. Fibre blends, contaminants and product complexity make separation harder. Mixed polyester-cotton, the report says, is particularly problematic despite being the world’s most widely used textile blend.
Virgin fibre still wins on economics
Interviewees repeatedly identified cost as a central obstacle. Recycled fibres remain comparatively expensive because collection, sorting, preparation and recycling have not reached sufficient scale, while labour, energy and logistics costs add further pressure. That creates a circularity “chicken-and-egg” problem: scale is needed to lower prices, but competitive prices are needed to generate scale.
Demand is another weakness. Both consumers and business customers were reported to have limited willingness to pay premiums for circular textiles, undermining investment in recycling capacity.
Regulation must create demand
PESCO-UP recommends three priorities: demand-side measures that strengthen the recycling business case; continued R&D funding for sorting and recycling; and deeper collaboration across the textile value chain. Possible instruments include recycled-content requirements, eco-modulated EPR fees, public procurement and targeted incentives.
Digital Product Passports could also become important infrastructure by improving fibre-composition and supply-chain data available to sorters and recyclers.
The report’s central message is commercially significant: better recycling machinery alone will not create a circular textile economy. Europe also needs predictable feedstock, buyers for recycled output, compatible data, stable regulation and investment conditions capable of moving recycling from pilot scale to industrial economics.
