Clothing waste is measured differently across major datasets: some count clothing and footwear, while others cover all textiles in municipal solid waste or household consumption. The figures below keep those definitions, geographies and measurement periods explicit.
Key Clothing Waste Statistics
The most broadly useful clothing waste figures include:
- In 2018, U.S. textile generation reached 17,030 thousand U.S. tons, or 5.8% of total municipal solid waste generation.
- In 2018, U.S. clothing and footwear textile recycling was estimated at 13%.
- In 2018, 11,300 thousand U.S. tons of textiles were landfilled in the United States.
- In 2018, 3,220 thousand U.S. tons of U.S. textiles were combusted with energy recovery.
- Between 1970 and 2018, U.S. textile generation increased from 2,040 to 17,030 thousand tons in municipal solid waste estimates.
- In 2020, EU-27 textile waste was about 6.95 million tonnes, or 16 kilograms per person.
- In 2020, 4.4 kilograms of EU-27 textile waste per person was separately collected for reuse and recycling.
- In 2020, 11.6 kilograms per person of EU-27 textile waste was in mixed household waste.
- In 2020, post-consumer waste represented 82% of EU-27 textile waste.
- In 2022, EU textile-waste capture was just under 15% for household textile waste.
- In 2022, about 85% of EU household textile waste was not collected separately.
- EU textile consumption averaged 19 kilograms per person in 2022, including clothing, footwear and household textiles.
- In 2022, clothing accounted for 8 kilograms per person of the EU-27’s 19-kilogram textile-consumption total.
- EU used-textile exports increased from a little over 550,000 tonnes in 2000 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2019.
- In 2023, EU used-textile exports were 1.4 million tonnes.
- An estimated 4–9% of European textile products are destroyed before use, equal to 264,000–594,000 tonnes annually.
- Global textile waste is estimated at 92 million tonnes per year.
- In 2020, EU-27 textile consumption used 175 million tonnes of primary raw materials upstream.
- In 2020, EU-27 textile consumption required about 4,000 million cubic metres of blue water.
- In 2020, only 8% of the EU-27 textile land footprint was in Europe.
Contents
- U.S. clothing waste generation trends
- U.S. textile recycling and recovery
- Clothing waste sent to landfills and combustion
- EU clothing and textile waste data
- Global clothing waste and resource impacts
U.S. Clothing Waste Generation Trends
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s historical series measures textiles in municipal solid waste, not clothing alone. It is an estimate in thousand U.S. tons, and the EPA notes that reused garments are not included in generation until they enter the municipal solid-waste stream.
| Year | U.S. textile generation | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 2,040 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 1980 | 2,530 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 1990 | 5,810 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 2000 | 9,480 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 2005 | 11,510 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 2010 | 13,220 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 2015 | 16,060 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 2017 | 16,890 thousand tons | Municipal solid waste, all textiles |
| 2018 | 17,030 thousand tons | 5.8% of total U.S. MSW generation |
Source: Textiles: Material-Specific Data, the EPA’s material-specific historical estimate. The 2018 total includes clothing and other textile materials; clothing and footwear generation uses sales data in part.
The series shows the measurement scale changing across decades, but it does not isolate garments from every other textile product. That distinction matters when comparing clothing waste with broader textile-waste estimates from Europe or global sources.
U.S. Textile Recycling and Recovery Statistics
EPA estimates for recycled textiles also cover all textiles in the municipal solid-waste pathway. The figures below are recovered amounts, while the clothing-and-footwear percentage is a separate 2018 estimate.
| Year | Textiles recycled in the U.S. | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 50 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 1970 | 60 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 1980 | 160 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 1990 | 660 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 2000 | 1,320 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 2005 | 1,830 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 2010 | 2,050 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 2015 | 2,460 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 2017 | 2,570 thousand tons | All textiles |
| 2018 | 2,510 thousand tons | 14.7% of all textiles |
Source: Textiles: Material-Specific Data.
For the narrower clothing category, EPA estimated textile recycling for U.S. clothing and footwear at 13% in 2018. For comparison within textiles, sheets and pillowcases had an estimated 15.8% recycling rate in the same year; that is not a clothing statistic.
European collection figures illustrate why recovery measures should not be treated as final outcomes. The European Environment Agency identified 17 European textile-recycling companies expecting annual fibre-recycling capacity of 1.25–1.3 million tonnes through 2025, including 1 million tonnes of mechanical recycling and 250,000 tonnes of chemical recycling.
Those are identified-company capacity expectations, not observed output, and the EEA says the mechanical-recycling estimate may be low because only 30% of companies were identified. An open database accessed in 2024 contained over 50 fibre-to-fibre recyclers in Europe and the United Kingdom, including chemical and mechanical recyclers and some pilot-phase companies.
Source: Management of used and waste textiles in Europe’s circular economy.
Clothing Waste Sent to Landfills and Combustion
In the EPA’s 2018 U.S. municipal-solid-waste estimate, textiles landfilled totaled 11,300 thousand tons, equal to 7.7% of all U.S. municipal solid waste landfilled. The textile total includes clothing and other textiles.
| Year | Textile combustion with energy recovery | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 10 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 1980 | 50 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 1990 | 880 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 2000 | 1,880 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 2005 | 2,110 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 2010 | 2,270 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 2015 | 3,060 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 2017 | 3,170 thousand tons | U.S. textiles |
| 2018 | 3,220 thousand tons | 9.3% of U.S. MSW combustion with energy recovery |
Source: Textiles: Material-Specific Data. EPA’s pathway is combustion with energy recovery; it does not represent all incineration.
The European picture uses different reporting categories. Across Europe, the landfill share of textile waste fell from 21% in 2010 to 12% in 2022, while the incineration share rose from 10% to 14%; the EEA reports that incineration figure as including energy recovery and incineration without energy recovery.
EU Clothing and Textile Waste Data
The EEA estimated EU-27 textile waste generation at about 6.95 million tonnes, or 16 kilograms per person, in 2020. Mixed-waste amounts draw on country waste-composition analyses whose reference years and methods are not harmonised.
| EU-27 measure | Period | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|
| Total textile waste | 2020 | About 6.95 million tonnes; 16 kg per person |
| Separately collected for reuse and recycling | 2020 | 4.4 kg per person |
| Textile waste in mixed household waste | 2020 | 11.6 kg per person |
| Post-consumer share of textile waste | 2020 | 82% |
| Textile-waste capture | 2022 | Just under 15% |
| Household textile waste not separately collected | 2022 | About 85% |
Sources: Management of used and waste textiles in Europe’s circular economy and Circularity of the EU textiles value chain in numbers.
The EEA reports that EU textile-waste capture increased by 4.3 percentage points from 2016 to 2022. Capture measures separate-collection effectiveness, not the share eventually reused or recycled, and the 4.4 kilograms separately collected in 2020 likewise do not establish final treatment outcomes.
EU textile consumption averaged 17 kilograms per person in 2019 and 19 kilograms per person in 2022. The 2022 total covers clothing, footwear and household textiles, with clothing accounting for 8 kilograms per person; apparent consumption is calculated from production plus imports minus exports rather than from a direct household-purchase survey.
Other measures describe what happens before or after household use. An estimated 4–9% of textile products placed on the European market are destroyed before use, equivalent to 264,000–594,000 tonnes per year, while textile expenditure represented 5% of total household expenditure over the last decade reported by the EEA.
EU used-textile exports rose from a little over 550,000 tonnes in 2000 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2019 and remained 1.4 million tonnes in 2023. Export volume is intended for reuse or recycling, but the EEA notes that exported textiles may ultimately be reused, recycled, landfilled, burned or dumped, so exports are not a measure of waste generated or final recovery.
Source: Circularity of the EU textiles value chain in numbers.
Global Clothing Waste Scale and Resource Impacts
UNEP estimates global textile waste generation at 92 million tonnes per year. The organization describes that estimate as equivalent to a garbage truck of clothing incinerated or landfilled every second, a communication equivalent rather than a direct count of trucks or a clothing-only measurement.
Source: The International Day of Zero Waste: Towards Zero Waste in Fashion and Textiles.
The EEA’s resource-footprint measures show upstream effects for EU-27 consumption of clothing, footwear and household textiles in 2020. They are consumption-based estimates, not quantities of waste generated inside Europe.
- The EU-27 consumption footprint used an estimated 175 million tonnes of primary raw materials, or 391 kilograms per person.
- Clothing represented roughly 40% of the textile primary-raw-material footprint; household textiles and footwear each represented roughly 30%.
- Textile consumption required about 4,000 million cubic metres of blue water, or 9 cubic metres per person.
- Textile consumption used about 20,000 million cubic metres of green water, or 44 cubic metres per person.
- The land footprint of textiles purchased by EU households was estimated at 180,000 square kilometres, or 400 square metres per person.
- Only 8% of that textile land-use footprint was in Europe, with over 90% estimated outside Europe.
Source: Textiles and the environment: the role of design in Europe’s circular economy.
Blue water means consumed or evaporated surface water or groundwater, while green water is rainwater stored in soil and is mainly associated with cotton production. These are upstream footprints for the combined textile categories, not wastewater volume or land occupied by European waste facilities.