Clothing and Landfill: What Happens to Unwanted Clothes in the UK

Love Not Landfill clothes recycling bin. Credit: Lucy Young

Each year in the UK, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothing are thrown away. Much of it ends up in landfill or is burned for energy recovery. As the fashion industry produces more clothes than ever, unwanted garments are piling up and the consequences for the environment are serious.

How Much Clothing Ends Up in UK Landfill?

According to WRAP, the UK discards around 336,000 tonnes of clothing every year. While some is collected for reuse or recycling, a large portion still goes to landfill or incineration. In many cases, perfectly wearable clothes are discarded. The volume of textile waste has remained stubbornly high, despite growing awareness.

Why Sending Clothes to Landfill Is a Problem

Clothing is made from complex blends of materials. Synthetic fabrics like polyester can take hundreds of years to break down. As they do, they release methane and shed microplastics into soil and water. Even natural fibres, if sent to landfill, emit greenhouse gases during decomposition.

This waste also represents a huge loss of resources. From cotton fields and oil extraction to dyeing and transport, every garment has a carbon footprint. Fast fashion encourages overproduction and overconsumption, leading to higher emissions and more waste.

Landfill is not the only issue. Incineration, while it reduces volume and may generate energy, also releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Unlike landfill, it does not allow for any future material recovery. Both outcomes waste valuable textiles that could have been reused or recycled.

What Actually Happens to Thrown Away Clothes?

Most unwanted clothes begin their journey in household bins or clothing donation points. What happens next varies:

• Items in black bins often go straight to landfill or incineration
• Clothes donated to charity shops are sorted; those in poor condition may be sold on to recyclers or sent abroad
• Textile banks and collection schemes aim to recover usable material, but not all donations are reused

One common misconception is that donated clothes are always reused locally. In reality, many are exported, sometimes ending up in overseas landfills or informal markets with poor waste management.

Reducing Clothing Waste in the UK

Tackling clothing landfill starts with changing how we value clothes. The most effective thing you can do is buy less clothing and avoid throwaway fast fashion. The second most effective thing you can do is to reuse and repair clothing instead of recycling.

Fast Fashion Waste

Fast fashion has made clothing cheaper and more disposable than ever. In the UK, the average person buys more than 25 kilograms of new clothing each year. Many of these items are worn only a few times before being discarded. Some are treated as single-use, worn once for an occasion and then thrown away. This overproduction fuels high levels of waste, with fast fashion accounting for a large share of what ends up in landfill or incineration.

Reuse and Repair Before You Recycle

The waste hierarchy puts reuse and repair above recycling. Extending the life of clothes is one of the easiest ways to cut emissions. Repair cafés, community sewing workshops and visible mending movements help people keep clothes in use longer.

Explore how to repair instead of recycle.

Alternatives to Throwing Clothes Away

If you no longer need an item, consider:

• Donating to charity shops or local clothing banks
• Hosting or attending a clothes swap
• Selling on resale platforms
• Using council run textile recycling points

What Clothing Waste Means for a Low Carbon Future

Reducing clothing landfill supports a low carbon future. Every tonne of textile waste avoided saves emissions from both production and disposal. Reuse and recycling also reduce the demand for new raw materials.

Learn More and Take Action

Clothing waste is one part of a larger challenge. But local action makes a difference.

• Explore the broader waste impact: Visit our waste impact hub to learn how materials flow through our economy and what can change.
• Discover why recycling and reuse matter: understand more on building a circular economy that works.

Clothing and Landfill FAQs

What happens to unwanted clothes in the UK?
Some are reused, some are recycled, but many still end up in landfill or are incinerated. Exports also play a major role.

How much clothing ends up in landfill each year?
Roughly 336,000 tonnes of clothing are discarded annually in the UK. A significant portion of this still goes to landfill.

Why is clothing waste harmful to the environment?
It releases methane, microplastics and other pollutants, while also wasting the energy and resources used to make the clothes.

What are better alternatives to throwing clothes away?
Some better alternatives to throwing clothes away include reusing, repairing, donating, swapping or recycling through designated textile schemes.

How does clothing waste relate to climate action?
Clothing waste contributes to emissions at every stage. Reducing waste is part of cutting carbon and building a circular economy.

Sources:

• https://www.wrap.ngo/uk
• https://www.brent.gov.uk/bins-rubbish-and-recycling/recycle-reduce-reuse/clothes-shoes-and-textiles 

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