The Turkish government has taken a concrete step in textile waste management. In July 2026, its 'Zero Waste' initiative officially launched a textile recycling program, placing collection boxes at national postal and logistics outlets. This move signifies that previously scattered charitable or grassroots clothing collection efforts are now being integrated into a national circular economy framework.
Background
This specialized program is an extension of Turkey's 'Zero Waste' initiative, spearheaded by First Lady Emine Erdogan in 2017. Initially focused on reducing household waste and promoting waste sorting, the program now singles out textiles as a major waste category, reflecting the country's growing emphasis on sustainable development in the textile sector.
Samed Agirbas, Chairman of the Zero Waste Foundation, stated that wearable clothing collected will be distributed through social assistance channels, while unwearable textiles will enter the recycling process. Partner companies, in return, donate new garments. This closed-loop model—collection, sorting, donation, recycling, and new garment donation—essentially creates a circular economy system with both public welfare attributes and commercial sustainability.
Operationally, collection boxes have been deployed at all branches of the state-owned postal service, PTT. Collected textiles are first registered, then transported to processing centers where workers sort them by type, fabric, condition, and reuse value, followed by uniform disinfection. The key here is standardization: nationwide coverage solves the 'where to collect' problem, while sorting and disinfection address the 'what to do with it' issue.
Industry Impact
This move sends several important signals to the textile industry. First, textile waste recovery is shifting from scattered charitable acts to systematic national infrastructure. Using postal outlets as collection points significantly reduces costs and boosts efficiency—a replicable model for other countries exploring textile waste management.
Second, the 'public welfare plus commerce' dual-drive model is noteworthy. Partner companies gain CSR image benefits by donating new clothes, while collected textiles, after processing, partly enter donation channels and partly feed the recycled raw material market. If this model matures, it could provide a stable source of feedstock for spinners relying on imported recycled fibers, potentially enabling more localized supply chains.
However, challenges remain. The commercialization of recycled textiles is still constrained by technology and costs. Separation technologies for blended fabrics are not fully mature, and the quality consistency of recycled fibers varies. For Turkey to truly close the loop from collection to regeneration to resale, sustained investment in sorting precision and recycling processes is necessary.