Clothes and textiles not collected at all recycling centres
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, I would like to request the following information about textiles collected at Regis Road Reuse and Recycling Centre:
1. Which contractor(s) currently collect and process textiles from Regis Road RRC.
2. What happens to the textiles after collection: how much is sorted for reuse (e.g. resale, export) versus sent for material recycling (e.g. shredding, fibre reclamation) versus disposed of as residual waste.
3. If available, the tonnage of textiles collected at Regis Road RRC over the most recent 12 months for which data exists.
4. Whether this data is reported to WasteDataFlow, and if so, under what category.
If any part of this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit, please advise how I might narrow it under section 16 of the Act.
Response
Good afternoon,
Further to our acknowledgement your environmental information request (reference 2026-283), our response is as follows:
Your request:
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, I would like to request the following information about textiles collected at Regis Road Reuse and Recycling Centre:
1. Which contractor(s) currently collect and process textiles from Regis Road RRC.
2. What happens to the textiles after collection: how much is sorted for reuse (e.g. resale, export) versus sent for material recycling (e.g. shredding, fibre reclamation) versus disposed of as residual waste.
3. If available, the tonnage of textiles collected at Regis Road RRC over the most recent 12 months for which data exists.
4. Whether this data is reported to WasteDataFlow, and if so, under what category.
If any part of this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit, please advise how I might narrow it under section 16 of the Act.
Our response:
Qs. 1& 3 – Textile contract collections and tonnages detailed below:
| Month | April | May | June | July | August | September | ||
| Waste type | Contractor | Source Site | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage |
| Textiles/Shoes | Total | 9.08 | 9.58 | 9.68 | 10.42 | 10.3 | 12.2 | |
| East London Textiles Limited | Total | |||||||
| Regis Road RRC | ||||||||
| Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd | Total | 9.08 | 9.58 | 9.68 | 10.42 | 10.3 | 12.2 | |
| Regis Road RRC | 9.08 | 9.58 | 9.68 | 10.42 | 10.3 | 12.2 | ||
| Total | 9.08 | 9.58 | 9.68 | 10.42 | 10.3 | 12.2 | ||
| Applied filters: | ||||||||
| Financial Year is 2025/26 | ||||||||
| Source Site is Regis Road RRC | ||||||||
| Waste type is Textiles/Shoes | ||||||||
| Month | October | November | December | January | February | March | Total | ||
| Waste type | Contractor | Source Site | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage | Total RRC tonnage |
| Textiles/Shoes | Total | 8.8 | 8.26 | 6.62 | 7.84 | 4.74 | 5.9 | 103.42 | |
| East London Textiles Limited | Total | 0.52 | 7.84 | 4.74 | 5.9 | 19 | |||
| Regis Road RRC | 0.52 | 7.84 | 4.74 | 5.9 | 19 | ||||
| Salvation Army Trading Company Ltd | Total | 8.8 | 8.26 | 6.1 | 84.42 | ||||
| Regis Road RRC | 8.8 | 8.26 | 6.1 | 84.42 | |||||
| Total | 8.8 | 8.26 | 6.62 | 7.84 | 4.74 | 5.9 | 103.42 | ||
| Applied filters: | |||||||||
| Financial Year is 2025/26 | |||||||||
| Source Site is Regis Road RRC | |||||||||
| Waste type is Textiles/Shoes | |||||||||
Q2 – The percentages of textiles reused, recycled and disposed as contaminated material is as follows:
- 63% of textiles collected is reused mostly exported:
| Destination | % (t) Total |
| UAE | 65.185% |
| Ukraine | 16.177% |
| Hungary | 7.244% |
| Poland | 4.105% |
| UK - Rest of | 3.467% |
| Turkey | 1.034% |
| Latvia | 0.674% |
| UK - Scotland | 0.594% |
| Pakistan | 0.573% |
| Jordan | 0.387% |
| Germany | 0.259% |
| Spain | 0.116% |
| USA | 0.092% |
| Tunisia | 0.062% |
| Iraq | 0.031% |
| Totals | 100.000% |
- 31.12% of textile collected is extracted for recycling.
- and 5.18% is disposed of as contaminated or unsuitable for reuse or recycling.
Q4 – Yes, the data is reported to WasteDataFlow under question 16: Recycling Tonnes CA and each borough would report tonnages under the waste type – Textiles and Shoes.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you may ask for an internal review, which should be submitted within two months of when you received our response to either informationrequests@nlwa.gov.uk or enquiry form quoting the above reference.
If you are not content with the outcome of the review, you may complain to the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, or via their online portal. The Information Commissioner will not usually accept complaints before a review has been completed.
Kind regards,
North London Waste Authority
