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Final Report A case study on management of leftovers from garment manufacturing in Sri Lanka Project code: REC900-0D1 Date: February 2019

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Page 1: Final Report A case study on management of leftovers from ... study on clothing manufacturing waste in Sri...WRAP - A case study on management of leftovers from garment manufacturing

Final Report

A case study on management of

leftovers from garment

manufacturing in Sri Lanka

Project code: REC900-0D1 Date: February 2019

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WRAP’s vision is a world in which

resources are used sustainably.

Our mission is to accelerate the move

to a sustainable resource-efficient

economy through re-inventing how we

design, produce and sell products; re-

thinking how we use and consume

products; and re-defining what is

possible through re-use and recycling.

Find out more at www.wrap.org.uk

Document reference (please use this reference when citing WRAP’s work):

WRAP, 2019, Banbury, A case study on management of leftovers from garment manufacturing in Sri Lanka, edited

by Cecile Martin and Jennifer Decker

Quality Assurance: The case study results were peer reviewed by WRAP’s technical team and have been compared

with data and reports that WRAP have separately reviewed; we can confirm that the wastage rates in the case study

are consistent with, or higher than, wastage rates seen elsewhere in the industry.

Study conducted by: Ann Runnel & Nin Castle, Reverse Resources

Front cover photography: Photo taken from a textile sorting area in Dhaka, Bangladesh 2017

While we have taken reasonable steps to ensure this report is accurate, WRAP does not accept liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense incurred or

arising from reliance on this report. Readers are responsible for assessing the accuracy and conclusions of the content of this report. Quotations and case

studies have been drawn from the public domain, with permissions sought where practicable. This report does not represent endorsement of the

examples used and has not been endorsed by the organisations and individuals featured within it. This material is subject to copyright. You can copy it

free of charge and may use excerpts from it provided they are not used in a misleading context and you must identify the source of the material and

acknowledge WRAP’s copyright. You must not use this report or material from it to endorse or suggest WRAP has endorsed a commercial product or

service. For more details please see WRAP’s terms and conditions on our website at www.wrap.org.uk

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WRAP - A case study on management of leftovers from garment manufacturing in Sri Lanka 1

Contents

1.0 Overview of project .........................................................................................4

1.1 Study conducted ....................................................................................... 4 1.2 Sri Lankan factory background and current leftovers management process ..... 4

2.0 Total volume of Jersey garments and leftovers traced in Sri Lanka ..............5 3.0 Insights into different types of fabric waste generation ...............................5

3.1 Roll ends .................................................................................................. 6 3.2 Cutting scraps .......................................................................................... 6 3.3 Overbooking of fabrics............................................................................... 6 3.4 Overproduction ......................................................................................... 7

4.0 Remanufacturing ............................................................................................7 4.1 Introduction to remanufacturing ................................................................. 7 4.2 Sri Lankan factories case study 1: Jeans (invisible remanufacturing) .............. 9 4.3 Sri Lankan factories case study 2: Denim Jacket (invisible remanufacturing) . 10 4.4 Sri Lankan factories case study 3: T-shirt (invisible remanufacturing) ........... 10 4.5 Sri Lankan factories case study 4: Fleece jacket (invisible remanufacturing) .. 11 4.6 Other remanufacturing examples .............................................................. 11

5.0 Observations from the study ....................................................................... 12 5.1 Inventory of roll end pieces ...................................................................... 12 5.2 Other comments ..................................................................................... 12

6.0 Recycling ...................................................................................................... 13 6.1 Overview of textile traders in Sri Lanka ..................................................... 13 6.2 Handling textile leftovers ......................................................................... 14 6.3 Main problems in handling textile leftovers ................................................ 14 6.4 Potential for improved materials efficiency ................................................. 15

7. Summary ...................................................................................................... 16

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Glossary

WORD DEFINITION

GSM Fabric grammage, in grams per square metre

Leftover Any material in or outside factory that has not been used

within a garment.

P.O. Purchase Order

Remanufacturing The process of using leftover cut end pieces in

subsequent purchase orders, thereby reducing the

volume of leftovers and consumption of virgin fabric.

Cross Match Matching materials from different purchase orders for

remanufacturing.

Alternative marker A marker plan with the removed patterns taken out.

Created for remanufacturing to analyse fabric savings.

Removed marker The marker plan created for the removed pattern pieces,

to calculate the volume of roll end pieces needed.

Roll end pieces Leftovers from the cutting room: full roll width, and

lengths varying from 18 inches to 5-10 yards (5-10 yards

depending on the factory length category for deadstock

fabrics).

Rejected Fabric Fabric that is not accepted into the factory because it has

failed quality control.

Stock Lot The company’s central storage point for collected

leftovers from all 23 factories

Traders The groups and individuals who collect and sort the

leftovers from the factories.

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Executive summary

This case study reviews opportunities to make more efficient use of fabric

leftovers from garment manufacturing through remanufacturing and recycling. It

is the result of a site visit in early 2018 to two factories operated by a major

clothing manufacturer in Sri Lanka, in order to identify, trace and analyse their

production leftovers.

A sample of data from four factories, covering the production of 300,000 garments

for nine purchase orders, showed that out of the fabrics reaching the cutting

room, on average:

• 14% became cutting scraps;

• 0.5% became larger pieces of surplus fabric 0.5 to 10 yards in size; and

• 0.5% became roll ends.

The cutting scraps are sold for recycling, although their end-destination often

cannot be traced. Some of the roll end fabric is used to replace defective panels in

garments. However, the majority of fabric pieces and roll ends are not reused; this

case study estimates their potential for use in making additional internal sections

for garments. For example, fabric leftovers from a production run of 25,000 jean

garments could generate enough garment pieces (over 500 yards of fabric) to

replace the internal sections of another 5000 pairs of jeans.

Better management of fabric leftovers could enable such remanufacturing.

Likewise, better management of cutting scraps (e.g. segregation by colour and

fibre composition in the factory) could enable recycling at higher value. However,

the potential for savings is variable:

• Designs with stripes and prints produce more waste and it can be

difficult to find remanufacturing opportunities;

• Lycra content and blended materials lower the value of leftovers for

recycling.

There is a decrease in transparency of the end-destination of waste fabrics as

factories and traders pass on the low value leftovers to the informal market.

Better data on the quantities and types of waste fabrics would be needed to

inform investment in recycling facilities.

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1.0 Overview of project

1.1 Study conducted

Reverse Resources (RR) conducted site visits to a knit factory and woven factory,

part of a group of 23 factories in Sri Lanka, between 26 February 26 – 9 March 2018.

The following tasks were undertaken:

• Leftover analysis on 5 purchase orders: partial data was received from

factories, so some of the numbers were estimated to provide a baseline

scenario;

• Remanufacturing cross-match analysis: all incoming orders over a six-

month period were compared and analysed to understand what leftovers

could feed into subsequent orders;

• Alternative marker plans: alternative marker plans were developed for four

products to suggest where new fabric could be saved and how much

leftover fabric could be used to replace new fabric.

1.2 Sri Lankan factory background and current leftovers management process

• The 23 factories are consolidated in a group, producing a wide range of knit

and woven garments. There is no fabric production within the Group.

• Key buyers: Tesco, M&S, H&M, Patagonia, Levi’s, PVH, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo

Boss.

• Total volume of cutting scraps: 200-300 tonnes per month.

• Scraps that don’t find a market (20-30% of leftovers) are sent to incineration

at a cement kiln which means the fabric value is lost.

• Roll ends over 10 yards in length are collected in each factory and may be

used in sampling, future styles, or get sold as fabrics to local markets. If the

factory cannot find a user or buyer for the fabrics, these are sent to a

centralised Stock Lot which receives leftover fabrics from all 23 factories in

the Group. Only a very small amount of the fabric received at the Stock Lot

is easy to sell at a fair price.

• The Stock Lot also deals with garment overproduction: labels are removed

and replaced before these garments are sold to secondary markets.

• Those products from which labels and identifiers cannot be removed are

either cut into four pieces (lower parts of trousers can be reused) or

shredded. From the group of 23 factories, approximately 60,000 – 70,000

thousand pieces of garments per month get shredded.

• The knit factory uses mostly polyester fabrics (95% of production). Cutting

scraps, around 12,000 kg per month, are not segregated by colour and are

sold to local textile traders.

• The knit factory mainly deals with a small group of textile traders, checking

if they have an environmental protection licence and asking where

materials are shipped, but they do not trace leftovers, or volumes shipped

etc.

• The knit factory is investing in projects to find better means of fabric

optimisation both independently and in cooperation with their key buyers.

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2.0 Total volume of Jersey garments and leftovers traced in Sri Lanka

Data collected from the factories gives a snapshot of the flow of leftovers at that

point in time. Some information was only partially received; therefore, some

numbers are based on estimates to provide a baseline scenario.

Figure 1 - Total volume of Jersey garments and leftovers traced in Sri Lanka

In one month, the knit factory received 7.4t of fabric and manufactured 5.9t of

garments. 19% of fabric was “lost” in the manufacturing process; 15% as scraps,

1% as fabric pieces up to 10 yards in length, 2% as roll-ends (deadstock), and less

than 0.5% in over-production. The over-production was sold to the original buyer

and the roll-ends remained in stock in the factory. The scraps and fabric pieces

were sold, and their final destinations could not be traced. This case study had a

particular interest in the opportunity to use the pieces and roll ends (2-3% of

fabric purchased) in producing future orders.

3.0 Insights into different types of fabric waste generation

An analysis across four factories, (woven and knit products: shirts, trousers,

jackets and t-shirts in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, nine purchase orders, 300,000

items) showed that out of the fabrics reaching the cutting room, on average:

• 14% becomes cutting scraps (min 11%, max 23%);

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• 0.5% of fabric becomes bigger fabric pieces 0.5 to 10 yards in size (min

0.13%, max 2.6%);

• The volumes of leftovers vary between products, however the data

sample in this study is too small to provide averages for different

product groups;

• Comparing similar products (e.g. fleeces) gives as much variation as

comparing different types of products (fleece vs trousers);

• The volume of leftovers depends more on other causes (marker

efficiency, fabric width, possibility to apply lay slip method1) and

cannot be clearly related to product type. However, it can be

assumed that shading and shrinkage issues in case of denim/twill

trouser products generates higher volume of roll ends on average,

than in jersey production.

3.1 Roll ends

The average proportion of roll-end pieces was 0.5% of fabric reaching the

cutting room (up to 1.5%). In the factories studied, roll-end pieces are

discarded as waste alongside cutting scraps. Some are used to replace

defective panels, however only a small proportion of the roll end pieces

gets used in this way. Often the end pieces cannot be avoided due to fabric

shade and shrink differences, and this must be a consideration in

determining their potential for reuse.

3.2 Cutting scraps

Only a small proportion of cutting scraps are currently segregated by colour

or composition in the cutting rooms despite this being easy for factories to

do. Cutting scraps are mixed up and sorting is done manually by the

traders. Recyclers depend on receiving segregated scraps from traders. A

lack of segregation at the factory means recycling plants lose valuable

information on fabric types, have lower quality of feedstock and higher

contamination rates. Segregating leftovers by colour and composition in

the factory may have some cost implications which would need to be

balanced against the expected increased value of sorted leftovers.

3.3 Overbooking of fabrics

Overbooking for fabrics received into the factory warehouse can vary from

a minimum 0.06% to maximum 4.9%. Variation is due to the producing

country, whether there are repeat orders forecasted, how exact the

planning methods used in a factory are and how monitoring of fabric usage

is carried out by the buyers. Woven products may require a higher volume

of extra fabric to be booked due to shrinkage and shading issues.

1With certain softwares like ‘intellocut’ it is possible to increase efficiency by overlapping

the ends of fabrics in the middle of the lay. It then calculates how many pieces are

unusable due to being cut from two different rolls.

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Some of the overbooked fabrics and roll end pieces could provide a great

opportunity for remanufacturing if the data on available fabric was

managed and shared effectively at factory warehouse level.

3.4 Overproduction

Overproduction is usually not considered as waste, as the volumes and use

of such products depends on case-by-case tolerance agreements between

factories and buyers.

At the same time, overproduction can be difficult for the factory to deal

with if there is no tolerance in the agreement for overproduction (or

seconds) and when products have brand-specific characteristics (e.g.

overprinted logos, branded fabrics) that cannot be removed from the

garments to allow sale in aftermarkets.

4.0 Remanufacturing

4.1 Introduction to remanufacturing

Remanufacturing is the process of using leftover cut end pieces in new

garment purchase orders. Most large factories specialise in producing

specific garments. A factory typically has a large number of very similar but

slightly varying fabrics going through production. Variations include weight,

colour shade, fabric composition, construction etc. Consequently, leftovers

produced are of similar but varying types.

It is estimated that about a quarter of all leftovers are cut end pieces, that

is fabric pieces the full roll width and ranging in length from 18 inches to 5 -

10 yards. The limit of 5-10 yards depends on the categories individual

factories have set for deadstock fabrics.

Reverse Resources has designed remanufacturing methods for large scale

production. By selecting small sections of existing designs to use

remanufactured fabric, a higher level of efficiency can be achieved in the

cutting room. There are three approaches to remanufacturing illustrated

below. The invisible remanufacturing technique was identified as

potentially suitable for the Sri Lankan factories’ production and quality

processes i.e. using leftover fabrics on internal sections of garments.

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4.2 Sri Lankan factories case study 1: Jeans (invisible remanufacturing)

Pattern Pieces Removed: Front pocket facings

Fly facings x2

Inside Waistband

Original Marker (5 pieces) 7.10 yards

Alternative Marker (5 pieces) 6.59 yards (marker not inc. removed pieces)

Removed Marker (16 pieces) 1.64 yards (marker only including removed pieces)

SAVINGS

Per 5 garments saving 0.513 yards

Per 1 garment saving 0.1026 yards

For 5,000 garments 513 yards

By taking out the inside sections of a pair of jeans e.g. waistband, pocket facings

(jeans do not often have front pocket facings, but this particular design did) and

fly facings and cutting them out of leftover roll end pieces from another

production, 513 yards of virgin fabric could be saved from a run of 5,000 jeans. On

an order of 3,000 jeans, 66.5 yards of roll ends were created. The assumption is

that larger production runs of around 25,000 garments could produce enough roll

ends to replace all the internal sections of another 5,000 jeans.

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4.3 Sri Lankan factories case study 2: Denim Jacket (invisible remanufacturing)

Pattern Pieces Removed: Under collar

Front chest pocket lining

Pocket flap facings

Main pocket bag

Original Marker (4 pieces) 5.09 yards

Alternative Marker (4 pieces) 4.47 yards (marker not inc. removed pieces)

Removed Marker (16 pieces) 1.3 yards (marker only including removed pieces)

SAVINGS

Per 4 garments saving 0.62 yards

Per 1 garment saving 0.155 yards

For 5,000 garments 775 yards

By taking out the inside sections of a denim jacket (e.g. under collar, front chest

pocket lining, pocket flap facings, main pocket bags) and cutting them out of

leftover roll end pieces from another production, 775 yards of virgin fabric would

be saved on an order of 5,000 jackets. On an order of 3,000 jeans, 66.5 yards of roll

ends were created.

From this we could assume that larger production runs of around 35,000 jeans

could produce enough roll ends to replace all the internal sections of another

5,000 denim jackets. The use of a jeans production example and not a jacket was

chosen, as the volume of jeans produced daily is so large that it is most likely that

leftovers for a jacket would come from jeans production.

4.4 Sri Lankan factories case study 3: T-shirt (invisible remanufacturing)

Pattern Pieces Removed: Back neck tape

Original Marker (77 pieces) 11.34 yards

Alternative Marker (66 pieces) 11.24 yards (marker not inc. removed pieces)

Removed Marker (48 pieces) 32 inches

(marker only including removed pieces)

SAVINGS

Per 5 garments saving 0.035 yards

Per 1 garment saving 0.007 yards

For 5,000 garments 35 yards

By taking out the back-neck tape from a t-shirt and cutting it out of leftover roll

end pieces from another production would save 35 yards of virgin fabric on an

order of 5,000 t-shirts. A very small saving but considering the volumes of t-shirts

produced, the potential impact could be significant. On an order of 2,900 t-shirts,

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2.3 yards of roll ends were created. It is assumed that larger production runs of

around 50,000 t-shirts could produce enough roll ends to replace the back-neck

tapes of another 5,000 t-shirts. T-shirt cuttings are generally quite efficient unless

being cut from striped or printed fabric. However, the volumes of roll end pieces

from other jersey items like leggings can be bigger and these would also provide a

good feedstock for remanufacturing back neck tapes.

4.5 Sri Lankan factories case study 4: Fleece jacket (invisible remanufacturing)

Pattern Pieces Removed: Pocket bags

Original Marker (6 pieces) 8.27 yards

Alternative Marker (6 pieces) 6.86 yards (marker not inc. removed pieces)

Removed Marker (3 pieces) 22 inches (marker only including removed pieces)

SAVINGS

Per 6 garments saving 1.41 yards

Per 1 garment saving 0.235 yards

For 5,000 garments 1,175 yards

By taking out the pocket bags from a fleece jacket and cutting them out of

leftover roll end pieces from another production would save 1,175 yards of virgin

fabric on an order of 5,000 fleece jackets. On an order of 4,000 sleeveless fleece

jackets, 66.5 yards of roll ends were created. It could be assumed that larger

production runs of around 70,000 pcs could produce enough roll ends to replace

the pocket bags of another 5,000 fleece jackets.

4.6 Other remanufacturing examples

Jersey – Invisible

remanufacturing

Potential saving of

new fabric used in

production

100 yards of leftover fabric

could replace details of this

amount of items

Fleece to fleece: hood lining 2.8% of shell fabric 2,608 pcs

Jersey from t-shirts, leggings

or dresses to replace side

pockets of a fleece jacket

59% of lining fabric 485 pcs

Wovens – Invisible

remanufacturing

Potential saving of

new fabric used in

production

100 yards of leftover fabric

could replace details of this

amount of items

Chino trouser: fly facing 1.5% 4,824 pcs

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5.0 Observations from the study

• A list of defective fabrics was maintained in the warehouse and contained

the following information: style number, fabric composition, colour, batch

number, roll number, length and cause of rejection (e.g. low GSM). These

fabrics are not planned to be used in production.

• In most cases such defective fabrics are not returned to the mill but sold

locally.

• The project could not collect data on defective fabric volumes. However, as

an example, in one instance, a total of 498 yards of fabric was rejected due

to low fabric weight (GSM).

• There is potential to use defective fabrics for remanufacturing depending

on the nature of the defect. Fabrics can be rejected due to colour or weight

differences, warping, stretching or damage to roll. Using a fabric with these

types of faults for remanufacturing may be feasible, depending on the final

product’s quality specifications. Any failures in fabric performance will limit

opportunities for remanufacturing.

5.1 Inventory of roll end pieces

• Roll end pieces are reported to be used for re-cut for damaged pieces. This

study could not access the re-cut data report breakdown by purchase order,

but comparison was made of the total yardage going through cutting per

day and average yardage of fabric re-cut per day.

• The comparison found that 0.18% of all fabric going through production

needed re-cut, using a small proportion (5.8%) of fabric roll ends and end

pieces. Therefore, it is worth measuring and keeping an inventory of the

end pieces for other remanufacturing opportunities.

5.2 Other comments

• If the fabric width could be decided by the garment factory there would be

less wastage. While developing marker plans the factory can calculate the

optimum width for that design. If fabric was made to this predefined width

a higher marker efficiency could be obtained.

• Fabric compositions can impact on the fabric waste. For example, when a

designer chooses to use cotton with elastane (Lycra) content the value of

that cotton for recycling is reduced by up to 15 times.

• Designs with stripes and prints, especially with matching stripes or

placement prints produce a lot more cutting scraps and roll end pieces than

plain fabrics.

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6.0 Recycling

6.1 Overview of textile traders in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has only one large corporate trading/recycling solution provider. The

rest of the traders are informal workers and small groups going from one pick up

to the next, so the corporate trader is unable to build up long term relationships

with them. Many of these informal traders sort the leftovers and sell them on to

the corporate trader who can deal with overseas logistics.

The Sri Lankan corporate trader’s main business is paper and cardboard, they only

started trading textiles two years ago in cooperation with Brandix, one of the

three biggest garment production corporations. Textiles are collected from

various factories but mainly from Brandix. Collecting from factories usually comes

with the obligation (based on the agreements made) to pick up all the leftovers

that the factory has.

The Sri Lankan corporate trader is only able to export certain textile leftovers, like

cotton. Hence the trader segregates the collected textiles to extract the highest

value leftovers.

Photo: the corporate trader’s sorting area, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2018

Approximately 160-175 tonnes of knits in cotton and cotton-polyester-lycra mixes

and 200 tonnes of woven mixed fibre leftovers are collected per month.

The biggest export market is India which is the largest buyer of textile scraps in

the world as they have wide acceptance criteria. The corporate trader has about

fifteen customers (both traders and recyclers) in India. They are also able to

export to Pakistan and Europe. European buyers have strict specification on the

fabric leftovers they accept and penalise sellers for errors as low as 0.05% in fibre

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composition. They also typically request at least one tonne of a specific colour. At

the time of this study, China was not accepting any textile leftovers.

6.2 Handling textile leftovers

All exported materials need to be segregated by composition to be sold forward.

In exports, the highest price is received for 100% white or off-white cotton

materials. The price difference between 100% cotton and 95-99% cotton leftover

can be 10-15 times. This price difference also accounts for different colours. White,

black and other bright colours have higher values. Printed material has no value

at all.

Light colour shades of the same colours will give an extremely low value.

Woven/twill coloured fabrics with Lycra and polycotton content are extremely

difficult to sell. This is due to the fact that current recycling technology cannot

process these materials. Although blended fabrics can be shredded into shoddy,

the abundance of these fabrics results in a low market value. Knit fabrics are

preferred to woven fabrics which create high quantities of fibre dust in the

recycled weave. Textile leftover prices also fluctuate depending on cotton market

prices.

Current deals with buyers allow the shipment of other material with the

requested 100% cotton, because recyclers have the capacity to produce low-

quality materials from the low-value scraps and sell it cheaply. Such deals are

created to move on the lower value material which would end up in incineration,

which is costly. Landfilling (dumping) is not an option based on the agreements

with factories.

Textiles composition is determined mostly by look-and-feel and by burning tests

(where the colour of the flame suggests content of polyester for example). There is

little or no data available on the fabrics collected from the factories. The

responsibility to determine the fabric composition is fully on traders, who may

have to pay high penalties if the fabric is not as specified when the recycling plant

conducts tests.

6.3 Main problems in handling textile leftovers

There are stringent agreements from brands to factories that no leftovers should

go to landfill or incineration and the factory passes on the same agreement to the

trader. Traders can only sell a small amount of the total leftovers for profit and

the remaining fabrics have to be disposed of at a cost.

At this point a trader will sell the non-profitable leftovers to local traders who are

typically small family-run businesses who make a small amount of money from

maximising the use of these materials. The responsibility has been passed on as

far as the brand, factory or trader is concerned, but the leftovers are still at risk of

being burned in the backyard or put into landfill.

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This problem arises as the recycling plants have no interest in buying the low

value leftovers. There is also no visibility and knowledge about their final

destination or the possibilities that could arise.

Even high value leftovers, e.g.100% cotton, are sometimes downcycled or sent to a

lower level recycling facility when the trader cannot collect enough of that specific

colour and so sells it on at a lower price mixed with other colours.

Lack of transparency and data on leftovers’ final destination hinders the

development of a business case for any new recycling plant. The Sri Lankan

corporate trader is looking into opening a recycling plant, but lack of information

hinders planning.

6.4 Potential for improved materials efficiency

Collaboration across all stakeholders is needed to maximise the use and value of

textile leftovers. The most important issue to solve is data transparency and

accessibility.

There are several recycling pilot plants being set up in Europe, Hong Kong, China

and the USA to test and scale up new alternative recycling solutions (chemical

fibre-to-fibre recycling, chemically separation of fibres for recycling etc.). Most of

these recycling solutions lack data on the material flows and volumes available

for recycling and the excess of certain types of fibres in some areas. Some

chemical recycling processes and all mechanical recycling methods are cost-

sensitive to the input fibre composition and colour or some other aspects of the

feedstock which makes data and market transparency a priority to bring down

the cost of recycling in the long term.

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7. Summary

The table below summarises the findings for the leftovers studied at garment

stage.

Table 1 - Summary of leftovers at garment stage

Type of

leftover

Mixed cutting

scraps

Fabric pieces

0.5 - 10yds

Roll ends

(deadstock)

Overproduction

Average % of

fabric reaching

cutting room

14%

(11% - 23%)

0.5%

(0.13% - 2.6%)

0.5%

(up to 1.5%)

Case by case

Potential

action for

reduction

Better lay plan Better lay plan TBC case by

case

Better planning

Current

destination

Trader, sorting

for export, final

destination

unknown

Trader, sorting

for export, final

destination

unknown

Stock Lot, some

used in

production

Stock lot, then

shipped to

retailers or

prepared for

sale to

secondary

market where

possible

Potential

improved

destination

Higher value

recycling for

sorted scraps

Evaluate

potential for

remanufacturing

Evaluate

potential for

remanufacturing

More flexible

agreements with

buyers as /

where needed Implications

for improved

destination

Sorting by composition and colour + storage with data

management for traceability

This work has been conducted to inform both the baseline of garment production

waste and to investigate reuse and higher value recycling opportunities for

leftovers. Further study would be needed to draw more representative

conclusions on the opportunities to reduce waste in the supply chain.

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WRAP - A case study on management of leftovers from garment manufacturing in Sri

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