Germany exported around 462,500 tons of old clothes and used textiles last year – that corresponds to 5.5 kilograms per capita.
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the essentials in brief
- 70 percent more textile waste collected from households within ten years.
As the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on Wednesday, that was a drop of eleven percent compared to 2021. The largest buyer countries were Poland and the Netherlands, with a third of old clothing exports going there alone. Other important countries were Belgium, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
At 63,000 tons, the imports of old clothes to Germany in 2022 were significantly smaller than the exports. Here the majority, namely a good 41 percent, came from Great Britain. Austria, Switzerland and France also exported used textiles to Germany.
The statistical office published figures from 2021 on global trade in textiles. According to this, Germany was the second most important exporter of used clothing and textiles after the USA in that year. China followed behind.
Large amounts of textile waste are also collected from private households via used clothing containers or recycling centers. According to the statisticians, that was around 176,200 tons in 2021 – 5.8 percent less than the previous high of 187,000 tons in 2020. Within ten years this textile and clothing waste has increased by over 70 percent.
