How to Recycle Clothes in the UK: A Complete Guide

The UK throws away around 300,000 tonnes of clothing every year. Most of it goes straight to landfill, where synthetic fabrics take up to 200 years to break down, leaching chemicals into the soil and releasing greenhouse gases as they degrade.

The good news? Almost every piece of clothing — regardless of condition — can be diverted from landfill. You just need to know where to take it.

This guide covers every option available to UK residents, from the simplest (charity shop drop-off) to the most impactful (brand take-back schemes and textile recycling).

Before we get into the how, it's worth understanding the scale of the problem.

The fashion industry is responsible for around 10% of global carbon emissions — more than aviation and shipping combined. In the UK alone:

• We buy approximately 26.7kg of new clothing per person each year
• Only 10% of donated clothes are actually resold in charity shops
• Around 350,000 tonnes of wearable clothing goes to landfill annually
• Producing a single cotton t-shirt uses around 2,700 litres of water

Recycling your clothes doesn't just reduce waste — it reduces demand for new production, which is where the real environmental savings lie.

If your clothes are clean, wearable, and in reasonable condition, a charity shop is the best first option. The item gets a second life, the charity benefits financially, and you avoid the environmental cost of recycling.

Tips for successful charity shop donations:

• Wash and fold items before donating — charity shops are understaffed and can't process dirty donations
• Check what each charity accepts — some won't take certain items like underwear or heavily worn pieces
• Bag items separately by type to make sorting easier for volunteers

Major UK charity shop chains: Oxfam, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Sue Ryder, Scope, Age UK, Barnardo's.

Many also accept donations by post if you don't have a local branch.

For clothes that are too worn, torn, or stained to donate, textile recycling banks are the answer. These accept clothing in any condition — the fabric is sorted and either:

• Reused — sold to developing markets or vintage wholesalers
• Repurposed — converted into industrial rags, insulation, or stuffing
• Recycled — shredded into new fibres for manufacturing

Where to find textile banks:

• Most large supermarket car parks (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons)
• Council household waste recycling centres
• Some high street retailers (H&M, Zara, M&S, Primark all have in-store collection points)
• Local authority clothing banks — check your council's website

Our Recycling Guide has an interactive map to help you find the nearest textile bank to your postcode.

An increasing number of clothing brands now offer take-back schemes, where you return old garments (any brand, any condition) in exchange for a discount on your next purchase. This is one of the most impactful options because brands have direct relationships with specialist recyclers.

Current UK brand take-back schemes:

• H&M — accepts any brand, any condition in-store. Offers a voucher in return.
• Marks & Spencer — Shwopping scheme with Oxfam, accepts any brand
• Zara — in-store collection boxes for reuse, repair, or recycling
• Patagonia — Worn Wear programme for repair and resale of their own garments
• Levi's — SecondHand programme, accepts Levi's items for resale
• The North Face — Renewed programme for returned garments
• Primark — in-store textile collection in partnership with recyclers

Always check the brand's website for current terms, as schemes change regularly.

If your clothes are in good condition, selling or swapping them keeps them in circulation longest and puts money back in your pocket.

Best platforms for selling clothes in the UK:

• Vinted — free to list, buyer pays fees, huge UK user base
• Depop — better for vintage and branded items, younger audience
• eBay — best for higher-value or branded pieces
• ASOS Marketplace — good for vintage and independent sellers
• Facebook Marketplace — great for local sales with no postage

Clothes swapping:

• Local swap events (search Facebook Events or Eventbrite)
• Nuw app — subscription-based clothes swapping community
• Swopped — peer-to-peer swapping platform

Before any of the above, ask whether the item can be repaired. A missing button, a broken zip, or a small tear doesn't have to mean the end of a garment's life.

Easy repairs you can do at home:

• Sew on replacement buttons (takes 5 minutes)
• Iron-on patches for small holes or worn knees
• Fabric glue for minor seam splits
• Darning for small holes in knitwear

Professional repairs:

• Most dry cleaners offer basic alterations and repairs
• Cobblers can resole and repair shoes
• Specialist tailors can reline coats, replace zips, and take in or let out seams

The most sustainable garment is always the one you already own.

Clothes that are genuinely beyond repair can still have a useful second life:

• Cleaning cloths — old t-shirts and towels make excellent reusable cleaning rags
• Tote bags — old jeans or shirts can be turned into simple bags
• Stuffing — shredded fabric works as stuffing for cushions or draught excluders
• Garden use — old cotton clothes can be used as plant ties or composted (natural fibres only)

Most textile banks don't accept shoes. Options include:

• Charity shops (if in good condition)
• Shoe repair shops (for quality shoes worth repairing)
• Terracycle's shoe recycling programme
• Some sports retailers accept old trainers (Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe programme)

Most charity shops won't accept these for hygiene reasons. Options:

• M&S Shwopping accepts underwear
• Some textile banks accept them for fibre recycling
• Worn Again Technologies processes mixed textiles including underwear

Synthetic sportswear is harder to recycle due to mixed fibres. Options:

• Adidas and Nike both have take-back programmes for their own products
• Patagonia repairs and resells worn sportswear
• Textile banks will accept it for downcycling

Recycling is important, but it's the last resort in the sustainability hierarchy. The most impactful thing you can do is buy less in the first place — and when you do buy, choose quality pieces from certified sustainable brands that are designed to last.

Our Discover page makes this easy, with 12,400+ verified sustainable products from 320+ certified brands, all in one place. Every product has been checked against recognised sustainability certifications so you can shop with confidence.

And if you want to see the impact your choices are making — in real CO₂ savings, water conserved, and energy reduced — our Impact Tracker puts the numbers in front of you.

Small choices, made consistently, add up to something significant. Our community has already saved 847 tonnes of CO₂ together. What will you add?