Speaking from northwest England, which has seen high levels of rainfall, Phil Geller, director of Manchester-based textile recycling firm I&G Cohen, said he considered that the extreme weather has affected the public’s ability to get to recycling banks, meaning there has been fewer deposits than normal for January.
“Collections at this time of year are normally high because everyone recycles their clothes after Christmas, but this year they are very low,” he said.
Contamination
In addition, water has been contaminating the banks and the bags, meaning some textile recyclers are having to send stock to landfill.
Mr Geller added: “It’s roughly £100 per tonne to send clothes to landfill and that’s not including the handling costs. That’s going to be a hit to textile recycling businesses.”
Similar views were expressed by Tosh Yvas, managing director of Fortune International of Bedford, who said that it has lost 1,100kg of clothes due to the bad weather.
“If the clothes are wet and damaged, we can’t export them and we can’t send them for reuse. This is the same across the country. Overall the industry is looking at a difficult year ahead,” said Mr Yvas.
Director of the Textile Recycling Association, Alan Wheeler, expressed his concern over the difficulties, saying, “where our members’ textile banks have been inundated with water, the goods contained within the banks will have been rendered useless and disposal is the only option.
“Unless adequately insured, the cost of disposal will be met by the bank operator. The market is already very depressed and such burdens will only serve to squeeze tight profits even further.”
Communication
Wolverhampton-based JMP Wilcox said it was particularly aware of the issue this winter, but that it had educated its suppliers to understand that wet clothing is not acceptable.
“The extreme weather has affected the public’s ability to get to recycling banks, meaning there has been fewer deposits than normal for January.”
Phil Geller, director
I&G Cohen
However, when wet material is found within supplies, a moisture meter is used by the company and a certain weight is deducted accordingly so reflecting the level of contamination. And JMP Wilcox emphasised the importance of communicating messages about quality and the need to avoid wet clothing in textile recycling.
Also on the communication topic, Mr Geller of I&G Cohen said he would like to see more assistance from the government in the provision of more education to residents on the quality of material that should be deposited.
“After all we are a green industry and we are diverting useful resources from landfill. We take a lot out of the waste stream so there should be more education on offer,” he said.Also on the communication topic, Mr Geller of I&G Cohen said he would like to see more assistance from the government in the provision of more education to residents on the quality of material that should be deposited.
Yorkshire
The Yorkshire region has seen some severe flooding. Giving a perspective from the county, Bradford-based HB Textiles said that the wet weather had affected its textile bank material over the last 4-6 weeks. Sales executive Michael Haley said: “While only a small percentage may be affected, because of the nature of this business, we can’t use that and so it is waste.
“This has got to be sent to landfill. The cost of this on top of collecting and disposing of material is expensive”
Mr Haley added that textile recyclers in the wetter areas were facing some problems and delays in servicing banks, which meant that sometimes more material has been left outside the banks.
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