Michael UngarCEO of the Industry 4.0 Club

Textile and Fashion Waste Crisis: Shocking Stats & Solutions Revealed

20 Apr 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:38

In this segment, the presenter highlights the massive waste generated by the fashion and textile sector, citing a 2018 EPA study that estimates 17 million tons of textile waste produced annually, with 85 % ending up in landfills. The speaker frames this as a critical environmental issue and points to emerging regulatory actions in the European Union and California that are compelling companies to adopt more circular, waste‑reduction practices.

Chapters

most notable one is the fashion industry, and I think, you know, furniture is somewhat tangential to that. But the reason for that, right, is that there's a lot of waste that's created every year by textile waste. I have a study, you know, from 2018 the EPA conducted that said 17 million tons of textile waste is generated every single year, and 85% of that ends up in landfills. So there's a huge problem, and that's why you're seeing regulation in the EU as well as here in California that is requiring companies to adopt more circular practices to help reduce the, you know, the textile waste that's generated every single year.