Sustainability Report 2017

second-hand use; collection, sorting, and recycling by TEXAID; 5 % CO²e emissions CO ² CO ² new garment, 100 % CO²e emissions THE ECOLOGICAL BALANCE OF TEXTILE RECYCLING A Carbotech AG study commissioned by TEXAID Switzerland has shown that used textile recycling has a positive effect on the environment. Compared to manufacturing new textiles, the envi- ronmental impact of the used textile recycling pro- cess is minuscule. For example, the production of a new garment made from conven- tional cotton generates about 95 percent more emissions than the re-use of a similar second-hand garment collected by TEXAID. A simple cost-benefit-analysis can help to determine the environ- mental soundness of second-hand clothing collection. Benefit is de- rived when collected textiles continue to be worn as second-hand clothing and lower quality textiles are re-used as cleaning cloths or insulating materials. Without separate collection and high-quality sorting and reuse, used textiles are simply thrown away and thus subject to thermal recycling. CO² emissions generated during the fabrication of a T-shirt 36