Goodwill Spearheads Initiative to Boost Textile Reuse and Recycling

Goodwill will work with environmental solutions provider WM on pilot programs to collect, sort and grade discarded textiles for resale. A portion of the textiles that are not suitable for resale will be provided to Reju, a textile-to-textile regeneration company, as supply for potential recycling and regeneration into new materials when Reju builds a U.S.-based facility.

Currently, only a small percentage of discarded textiles are recycled. According to the September 2024 Market Materials Report from Textile Exchange, of the 124 million tonnes of textiles produced globally in 2023, less than 1% of the total fiber market consisted of recycled textiles. Goodwill and its partners are seeking to capture a greater percentage of discarded textiles for resale or regeneration to help textiles move to their next best use.

“With our 120-year legacy as a leader in circularity, Goodwill is positioning our local nonprofit enterprises at the forefront of creating systems for textile recycle and recovery,” said Steve Preston, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International in a statement.

Reju, which is owned by Technip Energies and relies on technology that originated with IBM research, is developing an infrastructure to take textile waste and regenerate it at scale, starting with polyester. The end project is expected to have a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester and can be regenerated indefinitely, according to the company. Reju opened its first demonstration plant, Regeneration Hub Zero, in September 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany, and it is expected to begin producing regenerated polyester in 2025.

“Through our potential project with Goodwill and WM, we are building the ecosystem to achieve textile circularity,” said Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju in a statement. “Among the products that are not reused, less than 1% are recycled globally today. A textile-to-textile circular ecosystem can only be optimized when more textiles are diverted from the waste stream and into the recovery cycle. Goodwill and WM are looking to play a critical role in recovery through the collection and sorting of textiles in North America.”

Goodwill has been pursuing sustainability goals on multiple fronts. The retailer launched its GoodwillFinds resale marketplace in October 2022, and in May 2024 the Goodwill Keystone Area debuted e-waste recycling at its 42 stores in Pennsylvania.

A number of other retailers and brands have been working to address textile sustainability issues:

• In May 2023 Perry Ellis debuted its ‘Eco Denim’ line made from recycled textile waste in partnership with materials science firm Recover;
• Walmart announced it was working with Rubi Laboratories in August 2023 to pilot technology that captures carbon at the retailer’s factories and turns it into fibers, potentially creating garments that would be not just carbon-neutral but carbon-negative;
• In March 2024 Gap Inc. partnered with Ambercycle to leverage recycled textiles in products for its Athleta brand beginning in 2026;
• Hanna Andersson launched its ‘Hanna-Me-Downs’ resale program in February 2023, and in a June 2024 interview Chief Product Officer Kara Carter said the program was “a clear case of sustainability being good for business, too.”; and
• In August 2024, Primark reported that 55% of all clothes sold contained recycled or more sustainably sourced materials, up from 45% the previous year, and that 46% of cotton clothing sold contained cotton that was either organic, recycled or sourced from the Primary Sustainable Cotton Programme, up from 40% the previous year.