Hong Kong’s clothing waste - local challenges and opportunities
Material recovery solutions for Hong Kong’s non-wearable clothing waste
This report is part of Redress’ ongoing research work exploring circular fashion opportunities to solve Hong Kong’s local clothing waste issue. The development and publishing of this report is supported by the VF Foundation. Get your digital copy now!
Textile waste is widely recognised as a growing global issue. Locally in Hong Kong, an average daily quantity of 402 tonnes of textiles were landfilled in 2023, of which a substantial portion is thought to be clothing. While there are many solutions in development globally, in Hong Kong progress is slow. This report highlights the challenges and opportunities, and calls for action for material recovery solutions for non-wearable clothing waste to build stronger leadership and example in our region.
The challenges
The lack of specific data about the nature of the textile and clothing going to landfill (such as composition mix, colour and condition) is the first hurdle to be overcome. This type of data will enable the Hong Kong fashion and textile industry to understand what solutions need to be developed to address today’s clothing waste issue. Redress, one of Hong Kong’s charities operating a Takeback Programme, made a pilot study to get insights on the non-wearable clothes that they received. Results show that there is a big opportunity in recovering textiles to a higher value than what is done today: between 15% and 37% of non-wearable clothes could have potential for reconstruction or fibre-to-fibre recycling.
Hong Kong is facing another three major hurdles:
Lack of sorting and recycling infrastructure: Hong Kong’s textile recycling infrastructure is currently not robust enough to tackle the extent of the current local clothing waste issue.
Lack of perceived business value: Brands with a presence in Hong Kong do not see the business value of enabling and implementing efficient textile and clothing waste management.
Lack of consumer education: Hong Kongers’ consumption and disposal behaviours are far from responsible and sustainable. Consumers' purchasing habits are fueled by businesses constantly pushing new products to them, which they treat like disposable items. In turn, consumers are not aware of the consequences of fashion’s waste.
The opportunities
To unlock a successful local circular fashion economy and tackle Hong Kong’s clothing waste, there is no silver bullet solution. Hong Kong’s fashion industry will need to rely on diverse strategies, all aligned with the same aim of reducing, capturing and diverting from landfills (non-wearable) clothing waste. Many untapped opportunities have been identified, from small replicable operations to larger undertakings, spanning across infrastructure, mindset shift and governance.
These include advancements in sorting technologies to improve material recovery, developing remanufacturing initiatives that can transform discarded clothing into new products and building stronger, actionable stakeholder education on circular fashion practices. By implementing these strategies, the industry can significantly reduce and divert textile waste from landfills and recover materials for higher-value applications.
Finally, the report outlines specific actions that all stakeholders—including brands, designers, manufacturers, and policymakers—can take to facilitate this transition. Key recommendations include building a strong ecosystem to promote collaboration on circularity across the industry, increasing designer education on ‘eco-design’, and advocating for supportive government policies that incentivise circularity. By fostering commitment to these initiatives, Hong Kong can position itself as a leader in circular fashion, addressing the current local textile waste while promoting long-term environmental and economic benefits for the local textile industry.
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