Sustainability Report 2017

prevention disposal recycling prepare for re-use recovery Five-tier waste hierarchy material recycling 2016 33 % 2017 32 % thermal recycling 2016 10 % 2017 11 % re-use 2016 57 % 2017 57 % collection (including purchases) 2016 78,961 t 2017 75,586 t recycled by TEXAID facilities 2016 53 %   2017 51 % recycled by third-party companies 2016 47 % 2017 49 % Material streams for all companies combined Recycling at TEXAID Due to its high-quality sorting process, Switzer- land TEXAID can re-use nearly 63 percent of all its sorted goods as second-hand clothing and 61 per- cent in Germany. Group-wide the TEXAID sorting facilities achieve a second-hand clothing ratio of 57 percent of the textiles they collect. This number is higher than the industry average of around 50 percent. Textiles that are not suitable for re-use as second-hand goods are inspected on a case- by-case basis to ensure they are re-used in the best possible way. This optimizes their economic added value and minimizes their negative impact on the environment. Within the remaining 30 per- cent, around 15 percent are cut into wiping rags and cleaning cloths. The cutting is being done in the sorting facility in Hungary, while the marketing of rags and cleaning cloths is performed by the companies in Switzerland and Germany. t = tons of textiles Another 15 percent of the downcycled compo- nents are used as raw materials to produce re- cycling wool for new clothing or blankets and the manufacturing of insulating materials. Only 10 percent of the collected textiles are so heavily da- maged that they must be thermally recycled in waste recycling plants. TEXAID is therefore able to keep around 90 percent of its sorted textiles in the textile life cycle. 24