Deutsche Textilrecycling-Werke

Environmentally friendly

More than a million tons of second-hand goods are collected in Germany every year. DTRW, with its collection containers, is making efforts to see that this mass of textile materials is used to support environment-conscious purposes.

We believe that textile recycling is not just a method of domestic waste disposal, but also a chance to further utilize expensive materials instead of wastefully burning them.

After sorting donations, up to 60% of the old textiles from the containers can be reused as clothing, suitable for people in need.
Nearly 20% of these textiles can be used for scouring cloth and rags for cleaning.
Knit and woven items made from wool, cotton, synthetic and mixed fabrics can be processed into raw materials. They comprise 17% of the container content.
Companies that manufacture raw materials process scrap textiles into fibers, from which yarn is spun afterwards to produce new materials like thread and cotton balls.
Synthetic fibers are collected into specially prepared molds for plastic production. Some of them are used to make fiberboard.
Recycled textile materials are used in a variety of production industries such as automobile production, machinery construction and printing. Old textiles that are not suitable for repurposing are used as raw material for heating needs, and this comprises around 6% of the raw textile, collected from containers. Thus, old textiles are not just properly disposed of, but also recycled leading to a reduced consumption of our primary resources. Not all old textiles can be recycled to the full ecological, economic and social advantages though. If this small percentage is used for heating systems, it’s usually completing its optimal method of utilization. However, it’s just a very small fraction of the textiles collected from donation containers that isn’t able to be recycled.