17.0 million tons
of textiles entered the U.S. municipal waste stream in 2018.
Textiles accounted for 5.8% of total municipal solid-waste generation that year.
A reference for textile makers, writers, and curious readers
Textile waste & circularity statistics, 2026.
Eight useful figures on textile consumption, waste, recycling, and resource use, gathered from public agencies and international bodies.
The short version
The numbers behind a material we live with every day.
Textiles sit at the meeting point of craft, daily life, and a global system of making and disposal. The figures below are kept deliberately focused: each one has a named source, a clear date, and a direct link back to the original reporting.
They describe different geographies and methods, so they should be read as individual measures rather than combined into one global total. That distinction matters when a number is being quoted, compared, or used in a report.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency2018, opens source in a new tab
14.7%
was the U.S. textile recycling rate in 2018.
The EPA estimates that 2.51 million tons of textiles were recycled that year.
11.3 million tons
of U.S. textiles were landfilled in 2018.
That was 7.7% of all municipal solid waste sent to landfill in the United States.
19 kg per person
was the average textile consumption in the EU in 2022.
The estimate covers clothing, footwear, and household textiles across the EU-27.
16 kg per person
of textile waste was generated in the EU in 2022.
The EEA estimates a total of 6.94 million tonnes of textile waste across the EU-27.
15%
of household textile and shoe waste in the EU was separately collected in 2022.
The EEA reports that the remainder entered mixed household waste, where reuse and recycling become much harder.
2% to 8%
of global greenhouse-gas emissions are attributed to the textiles sector.
The range is UNEP's 2023 estimate, reflecting different measurement approaches across the sector.
215 trillion litres
of water are consumed by the textile industry each year.
UNEP's 2023 reporting places that total at the equivalent of about 86 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Method & sources
A small, traceable source list.
This page uses figures published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the European Environment Agency, and the United Nations Environment Programme. Each statistic links to the page where the figure is reported. Source dates are shown beside every statistic, and this page will be reviewed on a regular cadence as new public data is released.
Figures are not estimates by Cloth & Stone. They remain subject to the definitions, scope, and methodology published by their original sources.
A stable reference for your next piece.
Suggested citation: Cloth & Stone. “Textile Waste & Circularity Statistics (2026).” Updated September 25, 2026. https://clothandstone.net/textile-waste-statistics/
For a single figure, link directly to its numbered source above so your reader can follow the original data.
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