Chamber News
New £2m fund to cut environmental impact of textiles
27 June 2022 • Sarah Medcraf
A £2m fund aimed at reducing the environmental impact of textiles has been launched in Scotland.
Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) said the money would go directly to textile businesses across the nation, from fashion to upholstery.
It estimates that while textiles make up just 4% of waste by weight, they account for 32% of the carbon impact of Scotland's household waste.
The Circular Textiles Fund is designed to boost Scotland's circular economy.
It is backed by the Scottish government and will be administered in three rounds as grant funding.
ZWS said it was supporting initiatives that would cut demand for new clothing, employ sustainable manufacturing processes, mitigate the pollution from washing textiles and make them easier to reuse and repair.
The organisation also wants to "maximise the potential" of waste textiles.
It is keen on initiatives that include material sorting technologies to better sort and grade textiles for reuse, the creation of new products from waste and the reprocessing of problem materials.