Pre-consumer recycling

Pre-consumer recycling is the reclamation of waste materials that were created during the process of manufacturing or delivering goods prior to their delivery to a consumer.[1] Pre-consumer recycled materials can be broken down and remade into similar or different materials, or can be sold "as is" to third-party buyers who then use those materials for consumer products. One of the largest contributing industries to pre-consumer recycling is the textile industry, which recycles fibers, fabrics, trims and unsold "new" garments to third-party buyers.

There are generally two types of recycling: post-consumer and pre-consumer. Post-consumer recycling is the most heavily practiced form of recycling,[citation needed] where the materials being recycled have already passed through to the consumer.

According to the Council for Textile Recycling, each year 750,000 tons of textile waste is recycled (pre- and post-consumer) into new raw materials for the automotive, furniture, mattress, coarse yarn, home furnishings, paper and other industries.[2] Although this amount accounts for 75% of textile waste in the United States, there is little research on textile excess produced in countries that play a larger role in global textile production, such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, India and Bangladesh.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "pre-consumer materials". businessdictionary.com.
  2. ^ "Welcome to www.textilerecycle.org!". Archived from the original on 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2009-11-09.