Pre-consumer waste, or post-industrial waste, are leftovers generated from the textile and garment production process. A guide, developed under the EU-funded SwitchMed programme, guides companies in Tunisia on improving recycling practices of pre-consumer textile waste and retrieving the fibres for new textile products.

In an ideal world, nothing should be wasted. Unfortunately, millions of tons of textiles are wasted each year before the clothes even reach the consumers, and a rising global demand for textiles and clothing is increasing the quantities of pre-consumer textile waste. To help companies along the fashion supply chain adopt practices that can lead to higher recycling of pre-consumer textile waste, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), together with Blumine and Reverse Resources, launch a guide for companies in the Tunisian textile and clothing industry. The guide has been developed under the EU-funded SwitchMed programme and gives an introduction on the procedures, regulations, and sorting categories required to recycle pre-consumer textile waste. A study by Reverse Resources indicates that more than 25 percent is left as waste in the textile and clothing industries.

Under the SwitchMed programme, UNIDO is working with international fashion brands, suppliers, and stakeholders from the textile and clothing supply chain in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. In 2022, industry pilots will demonstrate how locally recycled pre-consumer textile waste can be brought back into “the loop.”

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UNIDO-led SwitchMed textile project