Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22222-6

REVIEW ARTICLE

A comprehensive review on textile waste valorization techniques

and their applications
Prince Kumar Mishra1 · Ansari Mohammed Dilsad Izrayeel1 · Bhupender Kumar Mahur1 · Arihant Ahuja1 ·
Vibhore Kumar Rastogi1 

Received: 7 January 2022 / Accepted: 21 July 2022 / Published online: 28 July 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
An increase in population compels the textile industry to expand production to fulfill the apparel requirement, resulting in
huge textile waste. These wastes are managed either by landfilling or incineration processes, which negatively contribute to
the environment. Converting waste into value-added products is essential to reducing environmental pollution and thereby
achieving a circular economy through proper waste management practices. This paper provides a comprehensive overview
of different categories and forms of textile waste, their source of generation, the reusing capability of the textile industry,
other valorization potentials in different fields, and various challenges associated with their valorization practices. This
review presents textile wastes as the raw material source for preparing different value-added products such as in manufac-
turing textiles, packaging materials, plastics, composites, construction applications, energy generation, chemical additives,
composting, and several other applications.

Keywords  Textile waste · Valorization · Waste management · Value-added products · Waste to wealth · Circular economy

Introduction
Apparel is the human’s second most basic need. The textile
industry is the parent industry for garment/apparel and is
considered an essential consumer product industry. In the
last two decades, the average annual consumption of textiles
has increased two times from 7 to 13 kg per person and
touched the limiting value of 100 million tons consumption
of textiles in the world (Shirvanimoghaddam et al. 2020).
As per the Discover Natural Fibers Initiative (DNFI) also,
the overall production of apparel and textile in the world was
110 million tons in 2018 (Townsend and Sette 2016a). The
demand for textile fibers in the textile industry is expected
to increase to 130 million tons by 2025, reflecting around
400% growth with an annual growth rate of 4.3% (Qin 2014;
Geyer 2020). The production of natural fibers, namely cotton
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
* Vibhore Kumar Rastogi
vibhore.rastogi@pt.iitr.ac.in
1
Department of Paper Technology, Indian Institute
of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667,
India
(majorly), abaca, flax, hemp, kapok, ramie, sisal, and silk,
slightly increased from 31 to 32 million tons (Townsend and
Sette 2016b) from 2008 to 2018. Polyester fibers captured
approximately 90% of global fiber production; hence, the
production of overall synthetic fiber increased from 15 to
22 million tons (Aizenshtein 2009). These statistics reflect
that polyester and cotton fibers dominate the world textile
market (Aizenshtein 2009).
Textile industries are also classified as one of the major
pollution-generating industries (Boström and Micheletti
2016). The textile industry has several waste-generating
operations involved in manufacturing finished textile
material, like blowroom, carding, drawframe, combing,
rovingframe, ringframe, spinning process sequences,
weaving/knitting, dyeing/printing, and finishing steps,
as shown in Fig. 1 (CHEMSEC 2020). The textile waste
generation is limited to the manufacturing operations and
post-production at the consumer end. The first category of
textile waste is pre-consumer textile waste generated in the
form of fiber, yarn, and fabric-based wastes, mainly due to
the manufacturing operations involved in textile products.
The second category is post-consumer textile waste like
discarded clothing and home textiles, which emerges from
changing lifestyle and fashion of the modern era along with

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Fig. 1  Textile manufacturing process sequence and objectives in the production of a finished textile
daily wear and tear. The third category of textile waste is
associated with the industrial applications of textiles like
carpet/rugs and technical textiles, known as industrial textile
waste (Rani and Jamal 2018).
The systematic waste management and different
valorization techniques for handling textile waste are of
prime concern. More than 66% of these textile productions
go for landfilling after use, and only 15% are recycled
(Shirvanimoghaddam et al. 2020). Thus, these wastes are
directly exposed to the environment either by landfilling
or incineration processes, which causes the generation
of pollutants, greenhouse gases, aerosols, and even
suffered losses of microbial population and soil nutrients.
Approximately 294 tons of textile waste is generated in
Japan daily. On the other hand, 16,030 tons of textile waste
were generated in 2015 with only 15% being recycled (To
et al. 2019). Although textile waste recycling is feasible
for a few categories of textile wastes, some of the textile
wastes are still not feasible to recycle because of a multi-
component system (Wang 2010). These multi-component
systems are heterogeneous waste containing a mixture
of natural and synthetic fibers, such as a blend of cotton
and polyester fabric. This multi-component system makes
fiber recovery and disposal challenging (Kuna et al. 2017;
Subramanian et al. 2021). Therefore, the textile industries
have created green models to combat several environmental
issues by using environmental process mapping (EPM) and
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hybrid mathematical models. EPM helps depict the effects
of industrial parameters on the environment and explain
the different environmentally conscious manufacturing
indicators (ECMI) at the production step (Shrivastava 1995;
Roy et al. 2020). The textile industry has taken the help
of textile recycling methods for proper waste management,
aiding no harm to the environment (Rani and Jamal 2018). In
the 1990s, when waste management (disposal) was a critical
issue for the environment, the concept of waste valorization
came into the picture (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2018). In
textiles, valorization is feasible from solid waste of fiber,
yarn, and fabric, generated from spinning and weaving
operations (Wang 2010; Ütebay and Çay 2020; Jeguirim
and Jellali 2021). The fiber-/yarn-/fabric-based solid
wastes are valorized as a raw material source or additives
in textile and other fields like packaging material and
composite. Applying these concepts, the valorization of
textile wastes supplemented the textile economy, which the
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Ferronato and Torretta 2019;
To et al. 2019) first proposed. Several applications of these
valorized products are feasible in textile and other fields.
The pre-consumer textile wastes are reused in manufacturing
operations, and the non-recyclable (multi-component)
post-consumer textiles are usually incinerated for energy
generation. A few categories of pre-consumer and post-
consumer textile waste are also valorized in the packaging
materials, medicine, construction, soil conditioning,
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composites, and composting-related applications, as shown
in Fig. 2 (Nir 1990; Schneider 2016; Echeverria et al. 2019;
Narani et al. 2020; Huang et al. 2020; Rizal et al. 2021;
Zhong et al. 2021).
The circular economy concept is the main driving
force for the valorization of textile wastes. By reusing the
textile waste into value-added products, the problems of a
large amount of waste disposal along with economic and
environmental benefits will also be aligned in the direction
of the circular textile economy (Rani and Jamal 2018). The
circular economy is the trend toward sustainability with
economic prosperity by applying various methods and
approaches of valorization and recycling (Ekins et al. 2019;
EMAF 2017). This trend compels us to think over existing
production design layout and sequence of consumption
to reduce environmental effects and focus on sustainable
solutions (Riba et al. 2020; Hussain et al. 2021). Textile
waste in the past has been effectively recycled and reused
after biological treatments without the loss of fiber quality,
as observed in mechanical recycling, demonstrating the
practicability of circular economy in textile (Li et  al.
2019a).
This review paper provides detailed studies of textile
waste (especially pre-consumer), their reutilization
Fig. 2  Different valorized prod-
ucts derived from textile waste
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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
routes in the textile industry, other valorization potentials
(Stanescu et  al. 2009), and associated challenges. The
valorization potential of textile waste is presented in
different value-added products such as manufacturing
textiles, packaging material, plastics, composites, building
construction applications, energy generation, chemical
additives composting, and other applications (Nir 1990;
Schneider 2016; Echeverria et al. 2019; Narani et al. 2020;
Huang et al. 2020; Rizal et al. 2021; Zhong et al. 2021).
Moreover, several advantages of using textile waste are
also discussed. This review attempts to provide awareness
about available technologies to utilize textile waste for
various applications targeting environmental sustainability
(Tayyab et al. 2020).
Categories and forms of textile waste
Textile wastes are generally categorized into three
categories: pre-consumer, post-consumer, and industrial
textile waste, as shown in Fig. 3 (Rani and Jamal 2018).
The source and different types and forms of these wastes
are detailed further in this section.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
Fig. 3  Types and forms of
textile waste
Pre‑consumer textile waste
The pre-consumer textile wastes are the category of wastes
associated with all the manufacturing steps for making a
finished fabric. The pre-consumer waste involves all the
wastes linked with spinning, weaving/knitting/nonwoven
manufacturing, dyeing/printing, and finishing operations
(Shrivastava 1995; Yalcin-Enis et al. 2019; Riba et al.
2020). The waste generated in spinning operations, weav-
ing operations, and the dyeing/printing/finishing opera-
tions are in the form of fibers, yarns, and fiber/yarn/fabric
mixed with chemicals (finishing agents/coloring agents/
chemical auxiliaries), respectively (Mistry 2020). The
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different forms of pre-consumer textile waste are discussed
further.
Fiber‑based waste
In textile industries, spinning yarns are manufactured based
on different requirements (Noah et al. 2019); therefore, dif-
ferent manufacturing steps or processes are involved. In
these spinning processes, three types of fiber-based wastes
are generated: natural (cotton, jute, flax, wool, etc.), man-
made (polyester, polypropylene, nylon, etc.), and blended/
mixed of natural and manmade (polyester-viscose blend,
a polyester-cotton blend, etc.), as shown in Fig. 3 (Uddin
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65966
2019). Various textile spinning wastes are presented in Fig. 4
(Uddin 2019) associated with blowroom, card, drawframe,
comber, rovingframe, and ringframe machine operations.
Blowroom is the machine used in the spinning process line,
which opens the fiber flocks followed by cleaning and thus
generating different forms of fiber wastes like filter, lap-cut,
and floor sweeps wastes. Similarly, carding is the machine
that individualizes the fibers generating wastes like taker-in,
licker-in, and sliver cut waste. Drawframe is the machine
for sliver formation by drafting and condensing assembly
generating filter and sliver cut wastes; comber is used to
remove short fibers that generate noils, roller wastes, sliver
wastes, etc.; roving frame is used for the attenuation of draw
sliver to a suitable size for spinning process and generates
roving, clearer wastes, etc. Ring frame is the last machinery
of a spinning process line for imparting twist followed by
drafting arrangements to provide final strength into the yarn
generating bonda, pneumaphil, thread wastes, etc. (Bedez
Ute et al. 2019).
These wastes are classified into two categories: soft and
hard wastes. Soft wastes are fiber-based textile wastes that
are recyclable for the textile spinning industry in the yarn-
making processes (Hossain Mohammad 2018), whereas
Fig. 4  Types and forms of fiber-based textile spinning waste (Hossain Mohammad 2018)
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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
hard wastes are fiber-based textile wastes which cannot be
reused for the textile spinning industry (Hossain Moham-
mad 2018).
Yarn‑based wastes
Yarn-based wastes are generated in the winding, warp
preparation, and weaving operations, where spun yarns
are prepared and processed for weaving/knitting and
nonwoven fabric manufacturing operations. Yarn-based
wastages come under the weaving department of the
textile industry (Shaker et al. 2019). These waste yarns are
either reused in textile operations or discarded as waste. It
depends upon various factors such as required fiber length,
strength, cleanliness, and capability for homogeneous
mixing/blending based on the condition and composition
of yarn (Sandin and Peters 2018). The yarn wastes are
of basically three types: natural (cotton, jute linen, silk,
etc.), manmade (polyester, polypropylene, nylon, etc.), and
blended/mixed of natural and manmade (polyester-viscose
blend, polyester-cotton blend, etc.) yarns, as shown in
Fig. 3.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
Fabric‑based waste
In the textile weaving operation, sometimes fabric gets
defected due to improper primary motions (shedding, pick-
ing, and beat-up), secondary motions (take-up and let-off),
and auxiliary motions (warp stop motion, weft stop motion,
warp protector motion, and temple) of weaving looms that
discards the textile as waste (Sobuj 2015). These fabric
wastes are either reconverted into yarns or discarded (Shir-
vanimoghaddam et al. 2020). Because of quality defects,
fabric-based wastes are also generated during textile chemi-
cal processing operations like dyeing, printing, and finish-
ing. These fabric wastes are classified into three major cat-
egories: woven (made by the interlacement of warp and weft
yarn), knitted (made by interloping one type of yarn), and
nonwoven (made by felting) fabric wastes because of weav-
ing, printing, dyeing, and finishing quality defects, as shown
in Fig. 3.
Mixed chemical‑based waste
During textile pre-processing operations (singeing, scour-
ing, desizing, bleaching, mercerization) and textile chemi-
cal processing operations (Richards 2015) (dyeing, printing,
and finishing), chemical-based fiber/yarn/fabric wastes and
wastewater are generated from the textile industry (Uddin
2019). Thus, these wastes are either identified in the mixed
form of fiber/yarn/fabric with chemicals or in the wastewater
stage. Textile chemical processing industries also dispose of
many chemical effluents (synthetic dyes, pigments, finishing
agents, and toxic auxiliaries containing acids, sulfur, alka-
lis, etc.) into the water, which causes environmental pollu-
tion and harm to water bodies (Das 2021). The wastewater
from dyeing and printing operation is also recycled in other
fields using bipolar membrane electrodialysis after recover-
ing water and nutrients and eliminating heavy metals and
organic compounds through physiochemical, electrochemi-
cal, and biological wastewater treatment operations (Wang
2010; Wang et al. 2011; Berkessa et al. 2019). The textile
industry also discards the chemical-based fiber/yarn/fabric
waste because of several chemical processing defects (like
crease marks, dye marks, pin marks, scrimp, patchy dyeing)
over the substrate (fiber/yarn/fabric) during textile wet pro-
cessing operations-dyeing, printing, and chemical finishing
(Drumond Chequer et al. 2013).
Post‑consumer textile waste
Post-consumer textile waste is not associated with tex-
tile manufacturing operations (Berthon 2019; Kapila and
Dhillon 2019). These wastes are generated at the consumer
end because of poor fabric performances or being out of
fashion. The average shelf life of any textile is assumed as
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3 to 4 years (Domina and Koch 1999). The post-consumer
textile wastes are in the form of fabrics (Hussain et al. 2021).
Generally, discarded garment-based waste comes under this
category.
Industrial textile waste
The third category of textile waste is industrial waste and is
associated with technical textiles, carpets, durries, conveyor
belts, industrial ropes, drive belts, medical textiles, etc. This
category is also very pronounced and significantly produces
waste (Aishwariya 2018; Rapsikevičienė et al. 2019). After
completing their shelf life, these wastes are also subjected
to disposal (Mistry 2020).
Textile waste reusing practices by the textile
industry
The textile industry has started various practices to reuse
the waste in textile manufacturing and other value addition
processes. Much research has been done in this direction to
show the re-usability of textile wastes into the textile itself
(Shishoo 2012; Pandit et al. 2018). A study conducted by
Çay et al. was done to increase the performance of fabrics in
terms of the functional properties by utilizing textile-based
biochar as an additive material. The study revealed that the
biochar was derived from the cotton/polyester, cotton, and
acrylic fiber wastes by carbonizing at lower temperature and
applied over cotton cloths by old printing methods. After
applying this derived biochar, functional properties (dry-
ing, moisture transfer, water vapor, and odor adsorption and
air permeability) of cotton fabrics were tested and studied.
It was determined that finishing given by derived biochar
provides a light hydrophobic effect over the printed surface
of the cotton cloths; thus, the textile surface can be obtained
from both hydrophilic and hydrophobic behavior. It was also
observed that applying the derived biochar increased the
drying rate, enhanced the water vapor permeability, and
improved the moisture transfer. It was also proven that a
functional textile fabric could be produced having odor
masking ability with enhanced thermal comforts by apply-
ing this textile waste-derived biochar over the textile fabric
(Çay et al. 2020).
Gupta et al. collected, segregated, and converted the post-
consumer textile waste into fabric using water-soluble fabric
technology (Gupta et al. 2016). The fabric manufactured
by this technology was further used to design the different
product samples like fabric patches and cushion covers. This
technology is then shared as a method of recycling or valori-
zation of post-consumer textile waste with enterprises strug-
gling to reduce the ecological footprints of post-consumer
textile waste (Gupta et al. 2016).
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Composite-making technology from fiber-reinforced
polymers (FRP) is gaining attention using recycling
approaches (Mohammed et al. 2015). Some thermoplastic
fiber wastes like polyamide and polyester are melted and
used in composite preparation. Natural fibers like hemp,
bamboo, coir, basalt, kenaf, flax, jute, banana, areca nut,
sisal, and pineapple fibers are also being used in composites
as they have good reinforcing properties. Thus, these
thermoplastic and natural fiber wastes collectively can be
used in nonwoven textile composite production by melting
and affixing the base matrix of wasted thermoplastic
materials and reinforcing the natural fiber waste materials
(Mohammed et al. 2015; Leão et al. 2015).
The conversion of post-consumer textile waste to generate
nonwoven materials is also one way to valorize the textile
waste into textile (Stanescu 2021). The conversion involved
cutting and shredding the textile in the initial step by a
unique machine called a textile shredder (Do Amaral et al.
2018). This shredded material was used to make nonwoven
materials using a needling process to strengthen the structure
without using any binder followed by card stage processing
of cleaned and sorted shredded fibers. The resulting
nonwoven materials could be used in various single-use
goods applications like sanitary wipes, napkins, and diapers
(European Environmental Agency 2020).
Another way of valorizing textile waste is recovering textile
fibers from textile waste using various mechanical methods
(crushing, grinding, shredding, pulling, etc.) (Stanescu 2021).
Fig. 5  Textile waste valoriza-
tion in various other fields
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Furthermore, these recovered textile fibers may be used in
textile spinning for yarn making processes. The environmental
effect of the cutting/shredding procedures required for this
recovery process must be factored into the cost of these new
fibers. Recovered natural fibers are frequently spun into
yarn mixed with virgin fibers. One example was “recovered
cotton,” which was spun from recycled textile material
(Esteve-Turrillas and de la Guardia 2017). Furthermore,
this recovered cotton fiber was considered a promising raw
material for yarn making due to its low cost and reduced
environmental impact (Stanescu 2021).
Textile‑waste valorization in various other
fields
Textile waste valorization has the potential to get valorized
not only in textiles but also in various other fields, as shown
in Fig. 5.
Energy generation
Energy generation is considered an effective option for uti-
lizing fiber-based textile wastes. Incineration or burning of
these fiber-based wastes can recover the energy contents
(Kindler and Nikles 1980; Huang 1990; Nir 1990; Henshaw
et al. 1996). As the category of manmade fibers is polymer-
based, they are generally used in blended or mixed form
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
with other textile fibers, so they are hard to recycle. The
landfilling of these polymeric fiber wastes creates environ-
mental harm and takes a long time to degrade. That is why
manmade fiber waste is subjected to energy generation as
a way of valorization. Figure 6 shows the calorific values
of different materials like polypropylene (PP), polyethylene
(PE), textile fibers (post-consumer textile waste), heating
oil, mixed plastics, coal, wood, and municipal solid waste
(MSW). The calorific values of PP and PE (45 MJ/Kg) are
comparable to those of heating oil and significantly higher
than the calorific value of coal, wood, and MSW (Hoeve
and Flory 1974). Therefore, manmade fibers like PP and
PE could be used as source materials for energy generation
applications.
As pollution concerns are associated with burning poly-
mer-based wastes, the post-combustion ash still requires dif-
ferent treatment before landfilling (Saxena and Jotshi 1996).
The waste-to-energy conversion could be a better approach
to waste management than landfilling because of advance-
ments in the technologies associated with energy generation
(Sun et al. 2020). The embedded energies obtained from the
textile wastes are also used to prepare Portland cement as
a fuel additive (Kumar 1997). The carpet wastes (industrial
textile waste) are also used in cement kilims as a waste-to-
energy conversion (Wang 2006) while contributing to the
circular textile economy. The environmental harm can be
reduced by recycling textile waste into innovative products
or energy generation resources (Toprak and Anis 2017; Sajn
2019).
The mixed (natural and synthetic) post-consumer textile
waste was subjected to torrefaction for energy managing
practices (Rago et al. 2018). The textile waste had 70% cot-
ton, 10% viscose, 10% polyamide, and 10% polyester. The
Fig. 6  Calorific values of different materials
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study mentioned the fuel property and thermal behavior of
mixed (natural and synthetic) textile waste under the torre-
faction process at varying temperatures of 225 °C, 250 °C,
275 °C, and 300 °C for 1 h and 3 h at a heating rate of 15 °C/
min. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis con-
firmed that the chemical structure of the used mixed (natural
and synthetic) textile waste was changed after torrefaction.
Thus, torrefied textile wastes can replace energy resources
like coal in the near future (Rago et al. 2018).
Energy generation is another method for valorizing
post-consumer textile waste. The waste-to-energy pathway
provides a chance for long-term waste valorization and a
reduction in the strain created by rising energy demand
(Stanescu 2021). Compressing cotton waste in briquettes
for heating a 1542 MW boiler that produced 2 tons of steam
per hour at 10 bar (Nunes et al. 2018) was a straightforward
way to exploit textile waste as energy. As a result, textile
post-consumer waste had the potential to generate thermal
energy. The waste cotton alternative had a much lower cost
compared to wood as a combustible fuel. Thermal combus-
tion technologies were among the first to eliminate waste
in the field. The thermal technologies were incineration,
pyrolysis, and gasification, which generate heat, vapor, and
gases, along with char (Arenas et al. 2019). These processes
produce heat, vapor, and other gases.
Building materials
Echeverria et al. valorized the discarded clothing into tex-
tile fiber–reinforced composites (TFRCs) for wall sheet pan-
els through compression molding using mixed fiber bulk
(Echeverria et al. 2019). For this purpose, several mixtures
comprising fiber waste like cotton, acrylic, nylon, polyester,
wool (PE), elastane polymer fibers, and polypropylene (PP),
where PP was used as a polymer matrix, and other fiber
materials were used as reinforcement. The fine wood fibers
(sawdust) were used as secondary filler, and maleic anhy-
dride grafted polypropylene was used as a coupling agent to
interfacial adhesion. The samples of the TFRCs sheet panel
were prepared by a compression molding process using a
steel die. The prepared TFRCs were tested for interfacial
adhesion, fire resistance, moisture absorption, microstruc-
tural characteristics, mechanical strength, and surface rough-
ness. These results showed the compatibility of various fiber
wastes as composite blend mixtures for TFRCs, providing
a low-carbon, non-toxic alternative material for building
applications (Echeverria et al. 2019).
Recently, extensive research was conducted into finding
solutions to strengthen wool waste in non-clothing applica-
tions. The wool fibers in the traditional region were widely
used in technological applications such as green building
insulation (Rajabinejad et al. 2019). The wool fiber waste
could be used for sound insulation and thermal applications.
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65970 Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977

In building applications, a double-layer mat structure was

prepared with 50% wool fiber waste and 50% recycled poly-
ester (RPET) fibers, and the prepared composite’s acoustic,
thermal insulation, and moisture absorption properties were
tested. The results concluded that the prepared RPET/wool
fiber waste composites had more than 70% sound absor-
bency (for the frequency range of 50–5700  Hz), higher
moisture resistance, and acoustic and thermal properties
(Hassanin et al. 2018).

Packaging materials

Textile fiber (lignocellulosic)–based waste was valorized

into a packaging film using an ionic liquid-assisted solution
casting method, as shown in Fig. 7 (Zhong et al. 2021). In
the study conducted by Zhong et al., a waste of jute fabric
was garnetted into small pieces of fabric and then into fibers.
These fibers were dissolved into a solvent and ionic liquid
(1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride), and a transpar-
ent packaging film was developed by ionic liquid-assisted
solution casting. Silver nanowires were also added, and the
resultant film can also be used as an electrically conductive
film or information storage devices (Zhong et al. 2021).
The cotton textile fabric was also used to produce cellu-
lose nanocrystals (CNC) through acid hydrolysis (by ­H2SO4)
and the three-step oxidation method (NaOCl, N ­ aClO3, and
­H2O2). The cellulose is made up of crystalline and amor-
phous regions, where amorphous regions of cellulosic chains
are relatively more susceptible to acid attack, which leads Fig. 8  The schematic diagram for cotton textile waste to CNC-SPI
to the dissolution of the amorphous region, leaving only the composite film (Huang et al. 2020)
crystalline part behind. This crystalline part or cellulose
nanocrystal is later reinforced with soy protein isolate (SPI)
to produce nanocomposite films, as shown in Fig. 8 (Huang and water vapor barrier property by adding 20% CNCs with
et al. 2020). The prepared nanocomposite films showed SPI and showed potential in food packaging applications
enhanced transparency, tensile strength, young’s modulus, (Huang et al. 2020).

Fig. 7  The schematic process

sequence for jute textile waste
to packaging film making
(adapted with permission from
(Zhong et al. 2021), copyright
from Elsevier (2021))

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
Textile waste fibers could also be used to produce pack-
aging papers (Arafat et al. 2018). Banana is a natural fiber
usually blended with cotton or synthetic fibers to prepare a
composite material. In the banana fiber extraction, a signifi-
cant amount of lignocellulosic waste is generated, which is
waste banana fiber. In this study, waste banana fiber (BF) and
extracted banana fiber (BF) were taken from Bangladesh’s
local banana fiber extraction unit. The papers were prepared
with wasted banana fiber (BF) and extracted banana fiber
(BF), and their properties were tested and compared. Pulping
of extracted BF and waste BF was carried out with varying
active alkali contents and cooking times at boiling tempera-
ture. The study of tensile properties of paper conducted by
Arafat et al. concluded that the paper made from waste BF
was poor compared to the extracted BF. Still, it fulfills the
requirement of handmade paper (Arafat et al. 2018). It is
excellent to know that old, discarded textiles can produce
paper, and it is one of the old methods of manufacturing
papers. In the eco-friendly (using no harmful chemicals)
concept of handmade papermaking, the discarded textile
cloths (cotton), agro-wastes, and other biomass were valor-
ized. Thus, old discarded fabrics are a good raw material
source for papermaking rather than a wood source because
it reduces the environmental impacts of deforestation. The
recycled fibers prepared from post-consumer textile waste
are also used in packaging applications like tea bags, enve-
lopes, book papers, and carry bags (Sachidhanandham and
Amsamani 2012). The lesser energy consumption of the con-
ventional papermaking method is also an advantage because
these papers are prepared using down cycling approaches
rather than upcycling (Aishwariya S, 2018).
Composites
Strengthened natural fiber composites gain interest due
to their better properties like low weight, high durability,
and low cost (Mohammed et  al. 2015). Several natural
fiber–based textiles like hemp, flax, and jute textile fabrics
have been successfully valorized and presented in another
review paper (Todor et al. 2019). Research has been done
on expanding textile waste into a bio-polymer composite
(Montava-Jordà et al. 2019). In the study conducted by Mon-
tava-Jordà et al., recycled cotton fibers (RCFs) were com-
bined with bio-polyethylene terephthalate (PET) through a
twin-screw extruder and later formed using injection mold-
ing. The study reported incorporating RCFs in the range
of 1–10 wt. % increased the hardness and rigidity of the
bio-PET. However, in terms of very high fiber content, stiff-
ness and the ductility of the pieces were severely reduced
because of the fiber’s poor adhesion in the bio-PET matrix.
RCFs enhanced thermal resistance and acted as an effective
nucleating agent for bio-PET crystallization. Thus, bio-PET
fragments containing (3–5) wt. % of RCFs measure high
65971
machine strength, weight, and heat resistance than others
(Montava-Jordà et al. 2019). The prepared bio-composite
plastic from cotton textile waste and bio-PET can be uti-
lized in various applications, including solid food packaging
(Montava-Jordà et al. 2019). Waste produced from wool-
based textiles was also valorized where keratin as a value-
added product was extracted from the wool waste and later
blended with cellulose acetate matrix to produce keratin-
cellulose-based bio-composite materials. The composite
could be used as compostable packaging, disposables, and
agricultural films (Aluigi et al. 2008).
Several nanocomposites utilizing textile wastes were
also reported in the literature (Kamble et al. 2020). Nano-
fibrillated cellulose (CNFs) was extracted from a cotton
fabric using a high-pressure homogenization method and
blended with polylactic acid/chitin for packaging applica-
tions. The result shows that adding CNFs improves nano-
composites’ mechanical, thermal, and behavioral proper-
ties (Rizal et al. 2021). A study also reported the epoxy
nanocomposites reinforced with shoddy (cotton fibers
extracted from cotton textile waste) and graphite oxide
nanoparticles (compatibilizer) as a thermoset material.
The prepared nanocomposites were high in mechanical
properties and thermally stable, had low water absorption
behavior, and were suitable for furniture materials and
automotive components (Kamble et al. 2020).
Composting
Guha et al. studied the effect of the composability of tex-
tile sludge waste on the growth of different plant species
(Guha et al. 2015). Textile sludge (a semi-solid waste)
was separated by the effluent treatment processes of tex-
tile chemical processing wastewater. Every year, 2.81
million metric tons of sludge waste is produced from
the textile sector in Bangladesh (Guha et al. 2015). Tex-
tile sludge had many heavy metals of higher concentra-
tions like 2.61% Fe, 8.80 mg/kg Cu, and 9.55 mg/kg Cr.
The study revealed that the direct composting of textile
sludge had different implications depending on the type
of plant species. Adverse effects of direct composting
were noticed due to the migration of toxic substances by
the food chain in the case of Joba, Tagar, and Mahogony
plants, whereas positive impacts were noticed in the
Rain and Gandharaj plant because they absorbed nutri-
ents from sludge, and the toxic substances did not affect
its growth and were found suited for direct composting.
Thus, the direct composting of sludge was suitable for
non-crop plants and hazardous for crop-producing plants.
These findings were obtained based on photographic evi-
dence of some experimental results (Guha et al. 2015).
The post-industrial textile waste valorization into
composts and bio-manures has been developed recently
13
65972
(Abdel-Shafy and Mansour 2018). Using micro-organ-
isms, the disposal technique may be environmentally
friendly, adding value to soils, water bodies, and plants
after disposal. It is well known that natural fibers are
prone to degradation because of their natural origin. It
was also observed that degradation of smaller pieces of
the natural fiber after disposing of it was easier than
longer natural fiber (Aishwariya 2018). This technique
is more applicable for interior parts designing automo-
biles because natural fibers help make parts lighter and
reduce the automobile’s weight to ensure better mileage
(Keune 2017; Aishwariya 2018). The field of package
textiles, striving to increase its market with the help of
eco-friendly textile materials, is working on manufactur-
ing compostable bags. Natural fibers of the least possible
size are used to make nonwovens or carry bags that can
replace harmful plastic wastes (Dissanayake and Perera
2016; Palamutcu 2017; Rajabinejad et  al. 2019). The
treatment of harmful textile effluents with micro-organ-
isms converted it into compost as a safe disposal method
(Selvam et al. 2019).
Miscellaneous applications
Cotton fabric waste was used to remove paracetamol (PA)
and tetracycline (TC) from mixtures of aqueous solutions
(Akkouche et al. 2021). The cotton textile waste was chemi-
cally modified using H­ 3PO4 as an oxidizing agent, and adsor-
bents were prepared from it by the pyrolysis process. Excel-
lent adsorption performance was observed by adsorbents
treated with 1 M ­H3PO4. The single and binary adsorption
of PA and TC onto treated adsorbents were tested, and it
was found that PA was less adsorbed than TC in a single
system, having maximum adsorption capacities of 62 mg/g
and 87.7 mg/g respectively. In the case of a binary system, it
was found that the TC (24.13 mg/g) was less adsorbed than
PA (44.04 mg/g), which is reversed in comparison to a single
system. Thus, binary adsorption of PA and TC onto treated
adsorbents of cotton textile waste showed a good poten-
tial for being used in preparation of effective adsorbents to
remove the pharmaceutical residues in aqueous solutions
(Akkouche et al. 2021).
Natural textile waste was also used as an alternative
feedstock material to produce succinic acid88 that could
be used in the food industry (as a food additive), tex-
tiles, and pharmaceuticals (Li et al. 2019b). The enzy-
matic hydrolysis of textile fabric waste is converted into
glucose-rich hydrolysate with dyestuff. The biochar was
shown to remove dye colorants, which would otherwise
inhibit the fermentation process, leading to the forma-
tion of succinic acid. The textile fabric waste was also
reported for cellulase production using the submerged
fungal fermentation method, later used in textile waste
13
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
hydrolysis to recover glucose and polyester for material
recycling and reuse (Wang et al. 2018).
An environmentally favorable method for disposal of
synthetic textiles waste was reported (Kwon et al. 2021),
where textile waste was catalytically pyrolyzed under C ­ O2
to form syngas and C ­ H4. It was shown that the produc-
tion of syngas increased to 3–8 times when C ­ O2-assisted
Co-based catalyst was used compared to non-catalytic
pyrolysis. In addition, harmful chemicals like polycyclic
(aromatic hydrocarbons) and benzene derivatives were
also minimized (Kwon et al. 2021).
The study reported by Ozsel et al. showed the valori-
zation of cellulose-based textile wastes for the production
of levulinic acid (used for solvents, fuel and oil additives,
plasticizers, and pharmaceuticals) and hydrogen gas (used
for clean fuel) (Ozsel 2021). The textile waste was treated
by hydrothermal hydrolysis, and the resulting hydrolysate
solution was further treated by two different catalysts pro-
ducing hydrogen gas and levulinic acid. It was also reported
that the waste hydrolysate could be a feedstock for selective
catalytic hydrothermal conversion of sugars into levulinic
acid (Ozsel 2021).
Waste tire textile fibers (WTTFs) were harmful when
they underwent a burning process violating the international
environmental laws for their waste management practices
after their end-use. The tires are the basic structure of the
vehicles, and after use, when they are disposed of, it creates
harm to the environment because of the following reasons:
1. During landfilling, the space occupied by disposed of
tires was very high.
2. After burning, the emission of poisonous gases was
responsible for the burden on the environment.
Narayani et al. utilized the laboratory experiments such
as swelling consolidation, split tensile strength (STS), desic-
cation cracking tests, standard compaction, and volumetric
shrinkage for reusing of WTTFs as a reinforcing agent in
expansive soil. This study depicted that WTTF expensive
soil mixtures were proven to be a good material for covers
and impermeable liners in landfills. Also, all the geotechni-
cal properties of the expansive soil were enhanced due to the
use of WTTFs. Thus, it was concluded that WTTFs could be
used for reinforcement materials in expansive soil (Narani
et al. 2020).
The various methods of textile waste valorization and
their field of application are compared, as shown in Table 1.
The concept of waste valorization came to light in the
1990s. In textile, waste valorization can be understood as
recycling, reusing, and generating energy or composting
(Kabongo 2013). Soon, textile valorization may be con-
verted into a sustainable business scope to manage textile
waste properly (Pensupa et al. 2017).
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
Table 1  Summary of some of the significant research conducted on textile waste valorization
Types of textile waste used
PP and PE manmade fiber
waste
(pre-consumer textile waste)
Cotton textile waste
(post-consumer textile waste)
Cotton textile fiber
(pre-consumer textile waste)
The mixture of bio-polymers
and thermoplastics fiber
waste
(pre-consumer textile waste)
Jute fabric waste
(post-consumer textile waste)
Banana fiber waste
(pre-consumer textile waste)
Cotton textile fiber waste
(pre-consumer textile waste)
Wool fiber waste
(pre-consumer textile waste)
Textile PLA and PP compos- Used as composting material Composting
ite waste
(post-consumer textile waste)
Waste tire textile fibers
(industrial textile waste)
Mixtures of textile fiber
waste
(pre-consumer textile waste)
Cotton textile fabric waste
(post-consumer textile waste) production of adsorbent
Fig. 9  A plot between the year-wise number of publications for tex-
tile waste valorization
65973
Name of the product pre- Field of applications Method used References
pared
Used as the raw material Energy generation Incineration (Nir 1990)
source
Derived biochar Textile printing Screen printing (Çay et al. 2020)
A composite of bio-PET and Bio-plastic making Injection molding (Montava-Jordà et al. 2019)
cotton textile fiber waste
Textile fiber–reinforced Building making Compression molding (Echeverria et al. 2019)
composites (TFRCs)
A transparent conductive film Food packaging Ionic liquid assisted solution (Zhong et al. 2021)
casting
Handmade paper Packaging Soda pulping (Arafat et al. 2018)
A composite of PLA-chitin Green packaging High-pressure homogeniza- (Rizal et al. 2021)
and cotton textile fiber tion
waste
Used as a raw material for Agriculture Bioconversion with keratin (Rajabinejad et al. 2019)
bio manure or organic
fertilizer making
Composting (Schneider 2016)
application
Used as a reinforcement Soil making Reinforcing (Narani et al. 2020)
material
Used as an additive in suc- Chemical production Bio-char sorption (Li et al. 2019b)
cinic acid production
Used as a raw material in Pharmaceutical Pyrolysis followed by chemi- (Akkouche et al. 2021)
adsorbent making cal modification
With time, the trends of textile waste valorization are
booming in the research world. Figure  9 represents the
research publication data on textile waste valorization from
2012 to 2021. The data was collected by the web of science,
with the search keyword “textile waste valorization.” An
increase in publication numbers is clearly observed year-
wise for the valorization of textile waste. The application
area of these valorized textile wastes is vast. Hence, the val-
orization of textile waste is expected to bloom in the future.
Conclusion
• Presently, textile waste is handled by unplanned waste
management practices like incineration or landfilling that
lead to environmental pollution, resulting in soil, air, and
water pollutants.
• From the discussed studies in this review, textile
wastes could be valorized for numerous applications,
including textile, energy generation, building materi-
13
65974
als, plastics, packaging film, packaging paper, com-
posites, composting, medicine, and chemical produc-
tion. It was shown that pre-consumer textile waste had
more potential for valorization than post-consumer and
industrial textile waste.
• Several textile waste valorization techniques were dis-
cussed: (1) incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification, for
power and heat; (2) decomposition by hydrolysis, for
conversion into monomers, fuels, and chemicals; (3)
mechanical and chemical processing, for conversion
into textiles, packaging film, and paper; (4) melt pro-
cessing, for composites; (5) composting, for composts,
bio-manures, etc.
• However, there are several challenges in valorizing
textile wastes. Collecting, cleaning, and separating dif-
ferent forms of textile waste are some of the significant
challenges experienced. Utilizing all types of textile
waste is not feasible by existing techniques at a large
scale. In addition, textile wastes having multi-com-
ponent materials are difficult to recycle due to prob-
lems in re-melting and reshaping into newer products
(Scheirs 1998) and, therefore, often go for landfilling
(Feldman 1989). A huge amount of harmful processing
chemicals and resulting wastewater is also a matter of
concern for the valorization of textile waste.
• Thus, textile waste valorization has to face many chal-
lenges in the future. Still, it solves the problem caused
by landfilling of textile waste, so for some economic
and environmental benefits, waste valorization has its
scope alive and creates new jobs that add to the concept
of a circular economy for textile industries.
Acknowledgements  Author Prince Kumar Mishra would like to
thank the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee for providing online
resources and support to carry out this review study during his Mas-
ter’s study.
Author contribution  Prince Kumar Mishra: investigation, formal
analysis, visualization, writing—original draft, revision of manuscript.
Ansari Mohammed Dilsad Izrayeel: visualization. Bhupender Kumar
Mahur: manuscript editing. Arihant Ahuja: formal analysis, manuscript
editing, review, revision of manuscript. Vibhore Kumar Rastogi: con-
ceptualization, investigation, methodology, resources, formal analysis,
manuscript editing and review, supervision.
Funding  Prince Kumar Mishra would like to thank the Ministry of
Education (MoE), Government of India, for providing resources and
financial support to carry out this review work during his Master’s
study.
Declarations  concerning the circular economy. Gest e Prod 25:431–443. https://​
Ethics approval  Not applicable.
Consent to participate  All authors agreed to participate.
13
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2022) 29:65962–65977
Consent for publication  All authors agreed with the content and all
gave explicit consent to submit.
Competing interests  The authors declare no competing interests.
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