South Korea Textile Recycling Market Overview, 2029

The South Korea textile recycling market is growing in response to increasing awareness of the environment and associated pollution problems due to textile wastes. The South Korean government has introduced a number of laws and regulations to encourage the recycling of textiles and improve waste management in the textile industry. It is envisioned that the 2016 Resource Circulation Act would reduce the generation of waste by making it mandatory for businesses, inclusive of textile manufacturers, to develop and implement waste management plans that focus on resource recycling and resource recovery towards a circular economy. It is for this reason that extended producers' responsibility provides a system where manufacturers and importers are held liable for the entire lifecycle of their products. In this way, the EPR will compel textile producers to collect and recycle their items at the end of their life cycle, hence increasing investment in recycling initiatives. The Waste Management Act provides the legally binding framework that entrenches waste management, thus providing guidelines on collection, transport, and disposal of textile wastes while urging local governments to set targets for waste recycling. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the textile industry has suffered a lot. The complete disruption in the supply chain and several other issues, due to the lack of infrastructure and labour force, affected the functioning of the textile industry negatively. This shook the stability of the textile and apparel sector. The average life of a given garment is getting shorter, and it contributes to an increase in the production of textile and clothing waste. This has a great negative influence on the environment due to the landfill disposal and incineration process that results in emission of greenhouse gases. The EPA and SMART believe that recycling textiles will significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions while increasing economic growth drastically.

According to the research report "South Korea Textile Recycling Market Overview, 2029," published by Bonafide Research, the South Korea textile recycling market is anticipated to grow at more than 6 % CAGR from 2024 to 2029. The rising awareness among the masses in South Korea about growing environmental issues, such as textile waste and resource depletion, represents one of the primary factors catalyzing the demand for sustainable practices like textile recycling.The increasing consciousness among individuals about the environmental impact of their clothing choices is driving the demand for sustainable and recycled textiles. Along with this, the rising shift toward a circular economy is driving investment in recycling infrastructure, including textile recycling, to keep materials in use for longer. Furthermore, several South Korean companies and municipalities are setting targets to reduce textile waste, encouraging recycling efforts. Moreover, the governing authorities of the country are introducing numerous regulations and policies to promote recycling and waste reduction, creating a favorable environment for textile recycling initiatives. Besides this, many South Korean fashion brands are embracing sustainability and incorporating recycled textiles into their collections to meet consumer demand. In addition, initiatives like clothing donation bins and take-back programs in retail stores are increasing the availability of textiles for recycling. Furthermore, continuous innovations in textile recycling technologies are making the process more efficient and cost-effective. Moreover, the rising collaborations between textile manufacturers, recyclers, and fashion brands are fostering a more sustainable textile ecosystem. Along with this, the growing concerns among people in South Korea about resource scarcity, such as water and cotton, are encouraging the adoption of recycling. Additionally, rapid advancements in technology are enabling textile-to-textile recycling, which is reducing the need for virgin materials. The integration of technology, such as IoT-enabled clothing tracking and smart textiles, is creating opportunities for efficient and traceable recycling processes, enhancing the appeal of textile recycling as a high-tech and data-driven industry.

The cotton segment currently leads in the textile recycling market of South Korea. Among the reasons are the general usage of cotton in the textile industry, the biodegradable nature of cotton, and supporting infrastructure that allows for the recycling of cotton. Its popularity in clothing and ease of recycling compared to synthetic fibers has cemented cotton's dominant position. Also, raising consumer awareness with regard to the eco-friendliness associated with recycling cotton has also fueled the growth of this segment. The polyester and polyester fiber segment is the fastest-growing in South Korea's textile recycling market. This comes as no surprise, because more polyester is used in the fashion industry due to its strength and inexpensive nature. Also, advancements in recycling technologies make polyester recycling more possible and decrease the environmental impact of production. Another important driver is growing concern about plastic pollution, contributed to by polyester. Other efforts underway include an increase in the recycling rate with regard to polyester. Governmental initiatives, through private sector investments in recycling infrastructure, further underpin this growth. Although the nylon and nylon fiber segment is smaller than that of cotton or polyester, it does have growth potential. Nylon finds applications on a wide variety of textile products because of its strength and elasticity property, thereby used in clothing and carpets. However, its recycling process is more complicated and less developed compared to cotton or polyester. The wool segment is less significant in terms of the South Korea textile recycling market. Wool is a natural, renewable, hence sustainable material, but recycling is less frequent due to processing complexities and volume issues compared with wool textiles.

The Apparel waste segment drives the market of South Korea in textile recycling. There are a lot of fashion industries in this country, and it is also known for its cultural values toward neatness and cleanliness, hence high volumes of clothing consumption that result in consequent wastes. As a trend, fast fashion encourages the frequent discarding of garments and this adds to the large amount of apparel wastes generated. The ready infrastructure for collecting apparel wastes and recycling them, coupled with increasing consumer awareness about the environment related to textile wastes, has placed this segment at the forefront of the textile recycling market. The South Korea textile recycling market is growing at a tremendous pace in the home furnishing wastes segment. This growth can be seen to have come as an outcome of increasing demand for home decoration and furnishing products due to urbanization and rising disposable incomes. When people change their interiors frequently, there is an increased quantity of waste in the form of curtains, upholstery, and bed linens. More recently, the South Korean government has adopted extended producer responsibility policies, making manufacturers liable for the entire product lifecycle and encouraging their involvement in the recycling process. Such policy change has been acting as a trigger for investment in recycling infrastructure and technologies, thus also further supporting segment growth. The automotive waste segment holds a lesser share and constitutes an integral part of the South Korean textile recycling market. Seat covers, carpets, airbags of automotive textiles add up to a huge amount of wastes, particularly from end-of-life vehicles. It is the strict waste management regulations of the country and the commitment of the automobile industry toward sustainability that act as drivers for the recycling of automotive textiles.

The mechanical recycling segment is currently leading in South Korea's textile recycling market. Mechanical recycling simply grinds the textile wastes into smaller parts like fibers or chips to be used as raw materials for other products. This, probably due to its relative simplicity, lower cost, and wide applicability to a large number of textile types cotton, polyester, and blends. Another factor for the dominance of mechanical recycling is that the existing infrastructure and technologies in mechanical recycling facilitate the process to a greater extent compared to chemical recycling. Also, mechanical recycling is more appropriate for the huge amount of post-consumer textile waste, mostly mixed and contaminated, generated in South Korea. The chemical recycling sector is currently rapidly emerging in the South Korean textile recycling market. Further chemical recycling refers to a process in which a set of chemicals allows breaking down textile waste into its molecular level and after that reconstitute the waste material to obtain a new material. In effect, chemical recycling mainly is effective in the recycling of synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon because they are always hardly recycled when it comes to the mechanical aspect. The main drivers for the growth in chemical recycling center around technology improvements that increase process efficiency and, ultimately, reduce process costs. Apart from that, the demand for high-quality recycled materials and the need to solve the environmental burden of synthetic fibers have increased investments in the field of chemical recycling. Furthermore, this segment's growth can also be assigned to government support and private sector initiatives toward the promotion of a circular economy.



The post-consumer waste segment leads and grows in South Korea's textile recycling market. This includes all worn-out products like used clothing and home textiles that reach the end of their useful life and become wastes from consumers. It dominates because of the large volume of textiles consumed and landfilled by South Korean households annually. This segment has also shown leadership and growth in the process due to increased consumers' awareness with regards to environmental impacts of textile waste, an emerging culture of recycling, and upcycling. Furthermore, government initiatives for waste reduction and recycling have greatly inspired the post-consumer waste segment, together with the expansion of collection and sorting infrastructure. The second major part is the pre-consumer waste segment, which is also an essential part of South Korea's textile recycling market. Pre-consumer wastes are formed by scraps, offcuts, and faulty products created during the manufacturing process. Such waste is often easier to recycle since it is clean and homogeneous in comparison with post-consumer waste. This segment grows as manufacturers try to address issues like waste reduction and sustainability in the production process. Government policies aimed at waste reduction and incentives to adopt circular economy principles also encouraged manufacturers to recycle pre-consumer waste. In addition, the evolution of recycling technologies has made it quite viable to recycle such materials, thus increasing this segment.

Considered in this report
• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report
• Textile Recycling market Outlook with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Material
• Cotton
• Polyester & Polyester Fiber
• Nylon & Nylon Fiber
• Wool
• Others

By Source
• Apparel Waste
• Home Furnishing Waste
• Automotive Waste
• Others

By End-Use Industry
• Apparel
• Home Furnishings
• Industrial & Institutional
• Others

By Textile Waste
• Post-consumer
• Pre-consumer

By Process
• Mechanical
• Chemicals

The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience
This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Textile Recycling industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.