“Worrying trend” of textile recycling jobs moving abroad

Speaking to letsrecycle.com today, Elliot Cohen said many UK textile recycling businesses have already become collection-only operations, in a bid to compete with exporters taking advantage of cheaper sorting abroad.

” People who've been in the industry many years just can't compete in the UK at the moment because of the high cost of labour. “
– Elliot Cohen, I&G; Cohen's
The chairman of Manchester firm I&G; Cohen's blamed high costs of labour in the UK and criticised charities for selling their clothes to the highest bidder.

Although Mr Cohen said it was understandable that charities wanted the highest price for their goods, he questioned the ethics of sending waste abroad without vetting those organisations receiving the materials.

Mr Cohen said: “It is understandable that the charities want to sell their goods for the highest price. But no-one knows how people dispose of goods properly in Eastern Europe, and charities will have to deal with the consequences of selling the goods out of the back door rather than to a bona fide trader.”

Some companies in the textile recycling sector have confirmed to letsrecycle.com that they are currently considering redundancies.

Mr Cohen said: “People who've been in the industry many years just can't compete in the UK at the moment because of the high cost of labour and there could soon be no business left in the UK. The minimum wage went up this month to 5.35, which is four times what people are paid in Eastern Europe.”

TRA
The problem has also been described as a “worrying trend” the Textile Recycling Association itself. TRA secretary Alan Wheeler said that many companies were already making UK sorting workers redundant.

He said: “If operations need to improve their profit margins, they are most likely to do this by handing out redundancy notices. Our association received word only last week that one of the UK's most well known and long established textile recycling merchants has decided to cease sorting operations in order to reduce their overheads.

Mr Wheeler predicted: “When a well established business does this, I believe it could be a sign of a worrying trend for UK based companies.”