In January, Europe’s worst offenders for burning and binning clothes were revealed. Since then, SaveOnEnergy has found one of the positives of the current pandemic is a change in attitude toward old textiles and how we recycle clothes.
Rather than “burning and binning”, we are turning to recycling centres to dispose of old clothes. UK-based End of Tenancy Cleaning Services recently reported a 500% surge in Google searches such as “when will recycling centres open” after many shut down due to Covid-19. But which EU country has been most inspired by this sudden urge to organise wardrobes and recycle old clothes?
Results
SaveOnEnergy found Google searches like “Clothes Recycling” are currently highest in Ireland. In fact, in the last 30 days, 12,670 people in Ireland have Googled how to recycle old clothes. Following Ireland are also high search results in Germany (9,390) and the Netherlands (6,840.)
At the other end of the scale, we find countries like Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia. In Luxembourg, just 330 people a month search keywords like “Clothes Recycling.” Meanwhile, in Slovenia and Slovakia, it’s as low as 300 and 270 searches a month, respectively.
Top 10 EU countries for recycling clothes
- Ireland
- Germany
- Netherlands
- France
- Spain
- Poland
- Italy
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Czechia
Top 10 EU countries recycle these items most:
The five most worn items of clothing worldwide are T-shirts, jeans, shoes, underwear and also coats.
By analysing search volumes in deeper detail, SaveOnEnergy can identify which of these frequently worn items of clothing are recycled most in each of the top 10 EU countries listed above.
The results show shoes are the most recycled item of clothing in 70% of the 10 countries analysed, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain. Meanwhile, jeans are the most recycled item of clothing in 30% of the 10 countries analysed, including Germany, France and Italy.
