Keep clothing and footwear out of landfill
Clothing & Footwear Recycling — Cornwall & South West
Clothing and footwear are among the most recyclable materials in the waste stream — yet they remain among the most commonly landfilled by commercial businesses. For retailers managing end-of-season clearances, fashion brands handling returns, and any organisation with a regular clothing waste stream, Cornwall Recycling Group provides a straightforward, compliant recycling solution.
Why Recycle Your Textiles?
What we accept:
End-of-season and clearance stock
Customer returns and damaged goods
Staff uniforms and workwear
Mixed clothing and footwear loads
Bagged and loose loads accepted
Coverage:
Collections across Cornwall and the wider South West. Commercial volumes only.
What happens to it:
Collected clothing and footwear is sorted and directed to the most appropriate recovery route — reuse, resale, fibre recovery, or recycling — depending on condition and material. Our processor network ensures the maximum possible diversion from landfill.
Who it's for:
Retailers, fashion brands, schools, care homes, local authorities, and any commercial organisation generating regular volumes of clothing or footwear waste across Cornwall and the South West.
Textiles are one of the most resource-intensive materials on the planet to produce. Every kilogram of fabric that ends up in landfill represents wasted water, energy, and raw materials — resources that could be recovered and returned to the supply chain if the right recycling route is in place.
The scale of the problem is significant. Across the UK, an estimated 350,000 tonnes of clothing alone goes to landfill every year. When you add carpets, curtains, bedding, uniforms, and industrial textiles into the picture, the volume of recoverable material being lost is enormous — and much of it is happening in businesses and organisations that simply don't have an accessible, affordable recycling option in place.
In the South West, accessible textile recycling for commercial volumes has historically been difficult to find. Collections have been expensive, processors have been distant, and the result has been predictable — textiles going to landfill not because businesses don't care, but because the alternative has felt too complicated or too costly.
Recycling your textiles has three clear benefits for your business. First, it diverts material from landfill — reducing your environmental footprint and supporting your sustainability commitments. Second, it keeps you on the right side of your duty of care obligations — with documented waste transfer notes for every collection. Third, it positions your organisation ahead of incoming regulatory changes that will increasingly require businesses to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of the textiles they use and produce.
The good news is that with Cornwall Recycling Group, commercial textile recycling across the South West is now straightforward. We handle the collection, the documentation, and the processing — so you don't have to.
EPR & Textiles — What Businesses Need to Know
Extended Producer Responsibility — EPR — is the regulatory framework that places responsibility for the end-of-life management of products on the businesses that produce, import, or sell them. You'll likely already be aware of EPR in the context of packaging, where new obligations have been rolling out across the UK. Textiles are next.