Gen Phoenix in Peterborough transforms leather offcuts into a new lower-carbon fabric, used by brands such as Dr Martens and Coach

How many clothes, items of bedding and other fabric have you thrown away this year?

While resale sites are growing in popularity, in the UK we still bin about 711,000 tonnes of textiles annually, external – roughly the weight of seven US aircraft carriers, external.

The global fashion and textiles industry is one of the most wasteful, but recycling firms in Peterborough and Northamptonshire are using technology to change that.

They are gaining the attention of major brands but say they need laws, as well as consumers, to support them.

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In a warehouse next to the A14 in Kettering, a mountain of crumpled fabric is slowly fed into a machine.

There are dressing gowns, duvets, branded banners and lanyards from events including the Commonwealth Games.

All are made from polyester – the world's most commonly used textile fibre – and all have been thrown away.

Traditionally they would be burned or buried in landfill but Project Re:Claim is trying to change that.

The partnership between The Salvation Army's trading arm (SATCoL) and Plan B Circular operates what they say is the first commercial-scale polyester textile-to-textile recycling facility in Europe – technology adapted from a bottle recycling plant.

Project Re:Claim turns old clothes and bedding into polyester pellets (rPET) for use in new products but Tim Cross says UK law must make manufacturers more sustainable

The Salvation Army collects the items and those that cannot be reused in their current form are shredded and melted.

Impurities such as dead skin cells and hair are removed and polyester pellets (rPET) are produced which can be used to make new clothes.

"It's the future: using the clothing we have today to make the clothing that we need tomorrow," says Plan B Circular founder Tim Cross.

"We process 500kg of fabric an hour but we could easily scale up if there was demand.

"The problem is encouraging clothing manufacturers to change from using virgin polyester to recycled polyester from old textiles. And to design their new clothes to be easily recycled at their end of life."

"A polyester blazer doesn't need nylon buttons and labels. A sports top doesn't need metal zips. It can all be polyester."

That is important because the plant can only recycle items that are 100% polyester.

Majonne Frost says the Salvation Army would like to see all worn-out textiles turned back into new clothing

Most clothing "is a fibre mix like polyester-cotton, or often three or four different materials," says Majonne Frost, head of sustainability at SATCoL.

Researchers are trialling ways to separate these fibres, external, but doing it at scale remains difficult and costly, so most of those items are eventually destroyed.

Project Re:Claim says its rPET requires 89% less carbon to make than virgin polyester.

"We send the pellets back to China in what would otherwise be empty shipping containers, and it's spun back into yarn," Cross adds.

"We have the technology but we're way behind with legislation. It absolutely should be driving the way we design and make clothing."

The rPET pellets are batch tested and any that fail the quality test for new garments are reused for other products, such as car mats.

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EU rules are already changing, external and are forcing manufacturers to reduce the waste they produce, their environmental impact, and to make the industry circular.

It must ensure products are not only made from recycled content but are themselves recyclable at the end of their lives.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, external (Defra) says it is "funding the UK Textiles Pact, external, which is driving ambitious targets to cut waste and increase the life cycle of materials".

In addition, Defra says "a taskforce of experts and businesses is looking at options to reduce waste in homes and businesses and will report back on next steps later this year".

Scraps of "wet blue" leather are sorted, shredded and reformed in Peterborough, "saving 18,000 tonnes from landfill" according to Gen Phoenix

The leather waste is broken down into fibres that are then re-entangled into a new fabric using water jets

Peterborough-based Gen Phoenix feels global consumer attitudes and legislation are beginning to drive change.

Every year it recycles thousands of tonnes of waste leather into new fabric which has been used by major brands, including Dr Martens, Nike and Coach.

It also specialises in train, bus and aviation seating.

"Jet2 was our first commercial customer, and now we're on one in every five commercial aircraft flying today," says chief executive John Kennedy.

"Our material has similar properties to traditional leather but with an 80% lower carbon footprint and it's lighter. Weight is important for airlines.

"We've saved more than 18,000 tonnes of material from landfill."

Paul Southall, head of sustainability for Jet2, says he is proud of its partnership with the recycling firm.

"Their innovative material is much lighter than traditional leather, which reduces fuel burn and therefore means a reduction in CO2 emissions," he says.

"It can also be recycled into new aircraft seating at the end of its life, reducing waste and giving us a responsible option for our cabin interiors."

John Kennedy says Gen Z is raising the importance of sustainability in the textile industry

Leather is itself a waste product from the food industry, but still much is wasted that Gen Phoenix feels could be salvaged.

"If you think of an animal hide, it's the bits like the neck, the shoulders, the armpits, the belly – bits that don't make good finished leather," says Richard Peace, the company's senior director of research and technology.

The company ships in the waste as "wet blue" – the name given to hides partway through the leather process – from tanneries around the world.

It breaks the leather down into a fibre fluff, which is sprayed on to thin sheets of tissue paper.

The sheets are then sandwiched around a fabric – usually recycled polyester – before high-powered water jets bind all the fibres back together.

The upcycled leather can be produced with different finishes and in different thicknesses

Called hydro-entanglement, it forms the new fabric without the need for resin binders, making the new product more easily recyclable.

"The importance of sustainability is seeing a groundswell, both in terms of legislation and consumer attitude - especially with Gen Z coming through," says Kennedy.

"Brands are definitely more invested and are being fairly quiet about the great work they're doing."

Tuze Mekik, Dr. Martens' global director of sustainability, says: "While these products currently represent a small part of our range, the growth seen in previous seasons reflects the exciting opportunities that can emerge when businesses like Dr Martens and Gen Phoenix collaborate to reimagine waste."

Gen Phoenix is continuing to innovate, developing technology to also recycle finished leather waste, but Kennedy adds: "Peterborough is where we do all of our manufacturing and R&D (research and development), and while we may establish other sites, this is where the magic happens."

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