Editor’s Note: Textile recovery implementation — along with a presentation of this report — will be featured in sessions at the 2026 Textile Recovery Summit, Feb. 23-25 in San Diego, California. Register now!
A new report confirms the sentiment that led to a new textile recovery law in California, detailing just how much clothing-related material ends up in the waste stream and how it could be removed from the waste stream.
The report, California Textiles EPR Study, released by USAgain and researched and written by Cascadia Consulting Group, found nearly 1.2 million tons of textiles were sent to landfills across California, costing residents nearly $99 million per year in disposal-related costs. USAgain is a nonprofit that works to put clothes back into the reuse cycle rather than have them disposed of; it operates textile collection programs in 15 states, including California.
The organizations collaborated on the report to help implement California’s Responsible Recovery Act (SB 707), which will require clothing and other textile companies to fund and operate a statewide recovery and recycling system. USAgain has no official role in the law’s implementation but wanted to offer guidance on how to do so.
“We are living in a world facing a mounting crisis of textile overproduction and waste driven by fast fashion,” said Mattian Wallander, USAgain CEO. “We undertook this study to better understand how collection systems can scale in the real world and to generate the evidence needed to support policymakers and partners in implementing SB 707 effectively.”
The organizations used quantitative scenario modeling and on-the-ground research to conduct the study. Among its findings was the fact that diverting 24% of textiles from landfills could create 2,500 jobs and save up to 1.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Getting more textiles back into reuse would be a big help toward that, but the report also found an existing infrastructure that might not be able to accommodate such a push:
● Municipal zoning laws might hamper the collection density needed to meet SB 707’s requirements, especially in areas with few collection options. These laws may limit the use of collection bins, which the study found to be the easiest, most scalable collection method.
● Convenience standards set forth in the law include a minimum number of collection sites per county. But these sites must be balanced with the fact that clothes should be reused rather than recycled, whenever possible, to maximize circularity and not overstrain recycling sites.
● Per-producer fee levels required by the law haven’t been specified, which could strain the system’s finances,
The law could also serve as a model elsewhere. The most recent figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicate about 17 million tons of textiles were made in 2018 nationally and the textile recycling rate was 14.7% (2.5 million tons). The 11.3 million tons of textile sent to landfills in 2018 represented 7.7% of all material landfilled. But according to estimates from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, about 95% of textiles can be recycled or reused.
“This matters to Californians and to all Americans because it affects landfill capacity, climate pollution and green job growth,” Wallander said. “It also determines whether residents can actually do the right thing with unwanted textiles.”
The report finds citizens, among other groups, have a role to play in the law’s success. Residents can use collection sites as much as possible and encourage municipal leaders to update their ordinances to expand access. City planners can be receptive to these pleas and make sure their rules don’t hamper the law’s intended effects. Producers can quickly make the investments they need to, hire experienced partners and help normalize donation.
“California has a strong foundation to build on,” said Julie Cerenzia, Cascadia’s director. “The biggest win will be designing a system that works in the real world … With the right implementation, SB 707 can become a landmark circular economy success.”
Adds Wallander: “We would consider the report successful if it helps SB 707 translate policy ambition into measurable, real-world change. That means informing the design and implementation of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) framework.”
Wallander said the study’s findings can be used in the other 12 states in which USAgain works to guide EPR efforts nationally.
