The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the ...

towards reduced material flow.
• The sector could halve its material flow without
economic loss if consumers pay a higher price
for a product that lasts twice as long.
• New business models with growth in profit
decoupled from increased material flow are
possible where consumers pay for services – such
as repair, novel coatings, other maintenance
services, remanufacturing or ‘fashion upgrades’.
• Technology development may lead to new
means to freshen clothes without washing,
efficient sorting of used clothing, new fibre
recycling technology and new low temperature
detergents.
• The infrastructure of clothing collection could
be improved.
• UK government policy on the environment
should be changed to promote reduction of total
or embedded impacts in products, not just those
arising in the UK.
• The UK’s involvement in negotiating international
agreements on trade could be used to promote
environmental and social responsibility.
Biffaward Programme on Sustainable Resource Use
Objectives
This report forms part of the Biffaward Programme on
Sustainable Resource Use. The aim of the programme is to
provide accessible, well-researched information about the
flows of different resources through the UK economy based
either singly, or on a combination of regions, material streams
or industry sectors.
Background
Information about material resource flows through the UK
economy is of fundamental importance to the cost-effective
management of resource flows, especially at the stage when
the resources become ‘waste’.
In order to maximise the programme’s full potential, data has
been generated and classified in ways that are both consistent
with each other, and with methodologies of the other
generators of resource flow / waste management data.
In addition to the projects having their own means of
dissemination to their own constituencies, their data and
information has been gathered in a common format to facilitate
policy making at corporate, regional and national levels.
More than 60 different mass balance projects have been
funded by Biffaward. For more information, please visit
www.massbalance.org
WELL DRESSED?