From Waste to Weave: Recycling Industrial and Consumer Cotton Waste for Sustainable and Cost-Effective Terry Fabric Production

The textile sector is a major source of global pollution and resource depletion, generating waste at every stage of production, from spinning to garment manufacturing. This study addresses the critical need for sustainability in the textile industry by exploring the recycling of pre- and post-consumer textile waste to produce terry fabric. This research emphasizes a sustainable approach to recycling, utilizing pre-consumer waste, such as blowroom and carding waste, alongside post-consumer waste from discarded garments. These recycled fibres were spun into yarn and woven into terry fabric, and their properties compared to those of virgin cotton terry. While virgin cotton terry exhibited minor advantages in visual and tactile qualities, other properties remained consistent across all samples. A cost analysis further demonstrated the feasibility of producing medium to high-quality terry fabric from recycled yarn, providing a cost-effective alternative to virgin cotton. The research work contributes to the advancement of sustainable textile production, underscoring the potential of recycling to mitigate the environmental impact of the textile industry.