Textiles are a growing industry. Even in this tough economy, 373,000 people in 2013 were employed by the textile and apparel industries. In addition, 2013 saw the consumption of domestic cotton exceed 1.7 billion pounds. With all of these textiles being produced, it is important to take note of where it goes once it is purchased by consumers.
Unfortunately, discarded textiles often end up in landfills, taking up precious space and resources. Most cities make it convenient for residence to recycle items like glass, newspapers, and plastic but it isn’t always easy for the consumer to recycle their used and unneeded textiles. The truth is, however, recycled textiles have a myriad of uses that can benefit our society, such as filtration and recyclable filtration.
One way textiles can be recycled and repurposed is in the form of industrial filtration. Used textiles can be used to manufacture automotive oil filtration systems and coolant filtration systems, air filters, and even water filters. When used textiles are used to create filtration systems, landfill space can be saved, raw materials can be conserved, and something that was once unneeded can become a valuable product once again.
Filters certainly are a valuable product. In fact, the global air filter market alone is estimated to surpass $19 billion through 2020. With the increasing demand for filtration products, it is more important than ever to use recycled materials to manufacture them. Otherwise, the amount of textiles ending up in landfills will only continue to grow.
To take it one step further, many filtration products are recyclable themselves, allowing consumers to get more and more uses out of textiles that would otherwise be wasted. Recyclable filtration systems for oil and coolant, for example, are often accepted at service stations or auto shops once they have been used. This way, the materials used to make the filter can be used again and harmful chemicals and oils from cars can be kept out of landfills.
Using discarded textiles to produce filters and recyclable filtration systems is only one way to keep textiles out of landfills. In addition to filtration, there are many other things recycled textiles can be used for such as insulation, upholstery, and stuffing for furniture and car seats. No matter what they are repurposed as, textiles are too valuable of a material to be thrown in the trash. If we continue to recycle our textiles, we can conserve our raw materials and prevent our landfills from overfilling, which benefits our country and the world as a whole.