‘We can do much better at recycling clothes’
(Photo: Wageningen University & Research)
March 25, 2025 – The Dutch textile industry stands at a crossroads. Fast fashion and overconsumption are driving an ever-growing mountain of waste, while the Netherlands is committed to achieving a fully circular textile chain by 2050. But how do we get there?
Ghalia Nassar, consumer researcher at Wageningen Social & Economic Research, is investigating the current state of textile recycling in the Netherlands and the challenges that stand in the way of a fully circular system.
To achieve circularity goals, a deeper understanding of the bottlenecks in the textile recycling chain is essential. Nassar applies the Butterfly Framework, a WUR model that maps the interactions between the technical, ecological, and socio-economic aspects for the case of textile recycling. This approach highlights key challenges, including inadequate collection and sorting, technological limitations in recycling processes, and a lack of market demand for recycled materials.
The report ´Mapping the Dutch textile recycling system through the Butterfly Framework´ is online>
