Italy's capital of textile recycling | Focus on Europe

This used clothing bin could be in almost any European city. But no matter where it's located, chances are the clothing will end up in Prato, Italy, the world's textile recycling capital. Around 150 of the 7,000 textile companies here are involved in recycling. Used clothes from Germany, Austria and Switzerland end up at Salvatore Rangino's warehouse. This is where we separate what comes in. We separate T-shirts, pants, children's clothing, sweaters and jackets according to season, winter or summer. He resells two thirds of the clothing, mostly to Africa. Alice Tezi, who works next door, takes the last third. Her family business has been turning used clothes into yarn and fabric for four generations. Hi, how's it going? Great. Did you get good material? Yeah, it's all pretty good. Great. Then the magic begins. In the end, the discarded scraps will become new yarn and wool. It's a complex process that starts here. Our goal is to restore the yarn to its original colour. We separate the colours and then our machine turns the rags into a kind of fibre pulp. That way we restore the original colour without chemical dyes. Chemical dyes are only one of the problems in today's textile industry. Worldwide, 20% of water pollution comes from dyeing and finishing fabrics. That's another reason why recycling used clothing is so important. The material then goes to our washing plant, where it's shredded and turned back into raw material. We draw the water we use from a depth of 150 metres. We filter it and then send it directly to the treatment plant to be purified. So we also recycle the water. Our company processes up to 25 tonnes of fabric per day. The final product are these fluffy fibres. The material has been dried and now has the moisture content of the original fibre. Now it's ready to be packaged and sold or spun into yarn. The recycling process continues in a nearby factory. The fibres are turned into yarn and then fabric. Every European buys on average 26 kilos of textiles per year. Most eventually ends up as landfill. For Lice, it's a terrible waste. We're trying to do our small part here. Of course, if the fashion industry followed our lead, we could accomplish so much more. It's hard to believe that only 1% of all used clothing in the world is recycled and 15% of that 1% is recycled here in Prato. Yes, our contribution here in Prato's textile district is important. Lice's father is president of Italy's Textile Recycling Association. But he says recycled fabrics can't be the only solution. At the moment, we can't satisfy global industrial and consumer demand with 100% recycled materials. What we have to do now is make it clear how important it is to move more and more in the direction of recycling. That also means encouraging young designers, like students from a fashion academy who use recycled textiles from Prato for their creations. In central Prato, the Riffa startup is already selling recycled designer fashion around the world. Niccolò Cipriani's goal is to bring together artisanal methods, sustainable fashion and the principles of a circular economy. He's convinced that quality clothing can be ethical and environmentally responsible. We're seeing that more and more people are interested in these issues and are willing to buy less clothing, but spend more on quality. It's the opposite of fast fashion, which is what we had until just a few years ago. That was all about low prices and buying new clothes more often. People like Niccolò and Alice are showing that sustainable fashion is more than just a dream. More places like Prato all over the world can help make it a reality.