Recycled Cotton Saves Land, Water, and Energy

Cotton is a very popular, versatile fabric, but it’s also very rough on the land, leeching nutrients out of the soil at a phenomenal level, demanding vast amounts of water, and requiring many gallons of fossil fuel to plant, harvest, and process into cloth.

Ecology-minded textile experts have come up with a couple methods of lessening the impact of cotton farming and textile processing on the environment. One is using organic methods of growing cotton; another that is gaining popularity is recycling.

Growing, harvesting, and processing cotton involves a lot of waste; one study estimates that up to 40 percent of the cotton product is discarded between field and manufacturer, most of it ending up in landfills. Now, thanks to new developments in cotton processing technology, it is possible to recycle that waste into cloth. A small group of manufacturers is now gathering the waste from every stage of cotton processing and turning it into cloth used in both indoor clothing and outerwear, and in other products like tote bags and grocery bags, sometimes as a blend with other recycled materials.

As this technology expands, it promises to have a strong, positive effect on soil, water, and energy conservation, and can have the added benefit of lessening our need for toxic pesticides—good news, and a welcome relief for our overburdened planet.