In the first month of the process, Bathurst Regional Council managed to recycle around 1,600 kg of textile waste. Being a part of the “next clear frontier” of Australia’s waste crisis, a regional New South Wales council has been overwhelmed with the donations they received.

In Australia, hundreds of tonnes of textile waste are being thrown away every year. Bathurst council’s trial of recycling is getting a great response. In the year 2018-19 major part of the 800,000 tonnes of textile, leather and rubber waste went direct into landfills. The management coordinator Ray Trevorah is struggling to find the right solution for this. He says due to COVID, the amount of clothing waste has been increased and most of it ends up in bins, pits, and landfills, which has been contributing a lot to the environment.

Bathurst partnered with Sydney-based Textile Recyclers Australia (TRA) and carried out the recycling trial, first for the regional NSW. Dr.Trevorah says the trial went quite successful with huge donations from the community, which was not expected by them.

They figured out three ways for reusing textiles: second-hand clothing in man developing nations, cut and made into rags for cleaning purposes, and recreated into bags, hand towels, etc. According to a volunteer Moira Spinazza, they distribute blankets and pillow cases to local vets for animals. She highly discourages fast fashion for the resultant explosion.

Adrian Jones, the founder of another Sydney-based company, BLOCKTEXX, says he also curated a way to deal with unwanted textiles after coming into the fashion industry. They have got their technologies patented for breaking down the products into raw materials polyester and cellulose to use them separately. Mr. Jones also says they have been presented with an opportunity to invest in our future.