The meeting marks the tentative first step towards possible support for a sector that has suffered from competition pressures from cheap new clothes being imported from abroad and sold at charity shop prices.
In the past the Waste and Resources Action Programme has felt unable to provide funding support for textile recyclers because they perceived the sector to have no shortage of market outlets.
But, soaring levels of imports from countries like China have threatened the sector following the end of the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Textiles and Clothing on January 1 this year (see letsrecycle.com story).
Last week saw WRAP sit down for the first time with textile recyclers to hear their concerns. The meeting was said to be “constructive” by both WRAP and the textile recycling sector's representative body, the Textile Recycling Association.
Positive
TRA secretary Alan Wheeler said: “It is a positive sign that we have been invited to sit around the table with WRAP. We talked about several issues and we will see what happens in the future, but at the moment there is nothing concrete that we can say.”
Liz Goodwin, director of materials at WRAP, added: “We realise that the textile recycling sector is facing a lot of issues, WRAP wanted to understand these better and we had a very constructive meeting.”
It is thought that WRAP may be able to provide additional support for the recycling of materials that have not been within its traditional core repertoire from its BREW initiative funds. The Business Resource Efficiency and Waste initiative allocated 4 million of Landfill Tax revenue to WRAP to help reduce waste. WRAP is to meet with representatives of the tyre recycling industry in June to discuss the potential for closer working (see letsrecycle.com story).
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