05.09.2022
Stavropol creates textile waste management system to counteract climate change
The first step is to install containers to collect old clothes in the regional centre.
Stavropol will start creating a textile waste management system in 2023. This will be done by ecovolunteers with the support of a grant from the Mashuk Youth Forum, say the authors of the project.
In the first phase, containers will be set up in public areas of the city to collect clothes, fabrics and other textiles. As part of the initiative, there will also be a series of events to distribute and exchange items.
This summer, volunteers of the city’s “Ecotochka” project organised a trial clothing collection and exchange event. The event resonated with the citizens, leading to the idea of continuing the work on a larger scale.
The textile collection containers will help Stavropol residents to dispose of their unwanted items more conveniently.
In January 2023, five stationary vandal-proof containers will be set up around the city. The collected textiles will be sent for recycling to Krasnodar, where they will be turned into cleaning rags.
“This is a variant of textile waste reduction. This is still a new topic in the region and the city of Stavropol. Plastics, waste paper, metal are actively accepted for recycling. Textile is a fraction which people are ready to hand over, but do not know what to do with it. In Central Russia, such projects are developing, but we haven’t had such projects yet,” said project author Elizaveta Migunova.
It should be noted that the Mashuk Youth Forum has been held since 2010, and in 2022 the event received nationwide status. Participants in the forum’s first shift submitted 120 initiatives to the grant competition.
According to the Russian Ecological Operator (REO), almost 1 million tonnes of textiles are produced in Russia every year. At the same time, the fabric waste recycling capacity is only sufficient for 25 thousand tonnes — about 2.5% of the total volume. The contribution of textile waste to the total carbon footprint has been assessed by experts as “rather serious”, noting that the light industry in general is rather sensitive in terms of its impact on the climate and is in need of serious reforms. In addition to recycling, experts suggest a paradigm shift in product consumption, phasing out so-called “fast-fashion”, or “disposable”, fragile and low-quality garments.
Head of REO Denis Butsaev told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that previously Russian textile processors ordered 85% of recyclable materials from Europe. He noted that in the current circumstances economic incentives for the organization of textile waste collection and recycling with the involvement of secondary textile raw materials in the economic turnover within the country should be developed more actively.
There is a need for wiping rags in Russia, the REO head clarified. Denis Butsaev expects that in 2022, the Russian government will adopt a mechanism for Extended Responsibility of producers and importers of goods and packaging, under which environmental levy funds will be used to create recycling facilities and install containers for separate waste collection.
Cover photo: Second Breath Foundation
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