Supply Chain of Waste Cotton Recycling and Reuse: A Review

A comprehensive understanding of the waste cotton supply chain and different end-of-life options is essential to promote cotton recycling and reuse. This study analyzed global and US data to understand the quantity, current sources, and destinations of waste cotton. Globally, 11.6 million metric tons of waste cotton are generated per year during cotton garment production. This study also reviewed different options for recycling both pre-consumer and post-consumer cotton waste via chemical and mechanical processes. Different applications of waste cotton were compared to their virgin counterparts from technical, environmental, and economic perspectives. Unlike most previous studies, this research included applications that are not traditional textile products (e.g., biofuels and composites), shedding light on potential new markets for waste cotton that will not compete with virgin cotton.