The National Centre for the Circular Economy has said Ireland will need more resources to adequately deal with textile waste.
The Rediscovery Centre said consumption of textiles in Ireland is currently double the EU average, with an estimated 70,000 tonnes a year ending up in landfill.
It said if Ireland wants to deal with discarded garments in a more sustainable way, it will need to invest more in facilities to sort this kind of waste.
Claire Downey, CEO of the Resdicovery Centre in Ballymun, which has worked for the past 21 years in trying to encourage people to reuse items, in particular clothing, said Irish people are buying and discarding more clothes than our European neighbours.
"Ireland in particular has a really, really extraordinarily high level of consumption of textiles. The data that we have indicates that we are consuming more than double the European average, which is 19 kilos per person.
"We're purchasing around 53 kilos per person, it's a really high rate of consumption, and we're actually passing on a huge amount. We are trying to get in and understand why we're consuming so much.
"At the moment we are putting into our bins around 70,000 tonnes of textiles every year. That includes footwear, bags and accessories so it's not just clothes, but there's a huge amount going into the bin. If we took all of that out of the bin and tried to handle it through separate collection, we would have a real challenge because we don't have the sorting capacity for that amount of clothing, so absolutely we have to invest in sorting.
"This obligation to separately collect textiles, that came into force in January of this year. We also have new obligations that came into force in October, only a few weeks ago, that require the introduction of a mandatory Producer Responsibility Scheme and also the requirement to sort textiles more thoroughly before they're exported for reuse, so that we're not sending unusable textiles overseas and they get dumped in different ways."
"There are lots of ways we can separately manage our textiles already, through charity, retailers and bring banks so Government has brought together a number of actors in this area to talk about how we can improve that space. There's a new textile strategy due to be published shortly that will really dive into that a bit more.
"But the research that we were involved in showed that we can collect more and more textiles, and we know there's a lot out there that we're not collecting that's going into the bin.
"The challenge is going to be how do we make sure we channel those textiles into reuse, so that we're actually re-wearing them, that we're repairing them and that we're making the most of the value of the materials here in Ireland and that we're not just relying on exporting or down cycling or recycling or indeed disposal. We really need to work on the back end and how we're actually handling textiles once we get them."
Liberty Recycling in Bluebell in south Dublin is one of the facilities dealing with Ireland’s mountains of textile waste. The not-for-profit charity, which also provides employment for people recovering from addiction, is currently processing more than 100 tonnes of textiles every week.
That's the equivalent of eight 40ft containers every seven days. With recycling banks in six local authority areas and at Tesco branches across the country, they believe they're only dealing with about 10% of Ireland’s total textile waste.
Tom Sheridan, Manager of Liberty Recycling, said the company's sorting facilities allows it to sort items into different groups that make them suitable for the places they are being exported to. He said about 8% of what they collect goes into their nine shops nationwide. 45% is sent to African markets and another 50% is sent to Asian buyers.
"If you're sending something to somebody, you've got to send them what they want. That's our main focus here. It comes in, gets sorted, organised, graded, quality control checked.
"We send a lot of stuff to Africa. What goes to Africa is what they need in Africa, clothes that are suitable for the climate. Other clothes which are not suitable for Africa go all over different parts of the world which suits their climate. So, everything is not just bundled together.
"Reuse wise, you're looking at about 1.3 million items, not just textiles, but shoes, handbags, household items, bed sheets, curtains, what we consider not good for us or we're fed up looking at it. What I find is most of the stuff that comes in here is perfect, in perfect condition. It's just not in fashion. Somebody wants something different.
"None of this stuff should go to landfill. None of it should go to incineration. It's not good for the environment and it should be gone to people that actually want it and need it."
The new EU directive which came into force this year obliges all states to properly sort textiles sent for recycling but with no obligation to report where unused clothes end up there are calls for greater transparency and accountability when it comes to dealing with textile waste.
Experts, including Claire Downey, say personal responsibility for the amount and type of clothes we buy is also key to tackling this mounting problem
"I think it's important to remember that we are putting the clothes in these banks, that sometimes are not of a quality that can be reused. A lot of textiles that are being bought at the moment are really low quality and don't have any re-wear value so if we send them overseas, we can't expect people to re-wear them.
"We need to continue to work on our consumption and to support people in making more circular choices and cutting down how much we're buying.
"We also need financial supports to go into reuse and repair activities and in the new National Circular Economy strategy there are moves in that direction. We're looking at maybe reviewing taxes and subsidies, repair vouchers and other mechanisms that will make these more viable activities.
"Because at the moment, they are challenging. If you are taking in secondhand clothes and you're trying to sell them on, you're competing with really, really low-cost alternatives to new clothes. It can be really hard to show the value of that activity. So, we do need to find ways to make it work."
A spokesperson of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment said the Government welcomes the revised EU Waste Framework Directive aimed at reducing textile waste which Ireland supported throughout its negotiation describing it as a "gamechanger".
"Tackling textile waste is a key step that we can take to achieve sustainability, to help combat climate change, and to support the transition to a circular economy. The Department is developing a National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles to achieve a circular economy and has also begun work on a Roadmap for a Textiles Extended Producer Responsibility.
"The revised Directive, backed up with our policy approach, will be a gamechanger in helping to curb fast fashion trends, boost the reuse and recycling of textiles, and reduce the environmental footprint of the textile sector."
Ireland is required to transpose the revised Directive into national law by June 2027.
