The secondhand industry expects a large increase in used clothing with the new law on textile recycling that came into force at the turn of the year.
“The government has decided to require separate collection of textile waste. This is a step towards a more circular handling of textiles in Sweden and means, among other things, that the municipalities must collect household textile waste separately,” the government writes in a press release.
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Spyware and sex toys
From 1 January 2025, it is the municipality you live in that provides collection points for textiles you want to recycle. For example, it could be containers at recycling centers or other collection points. Many organizations, such as Myrorna, Red Cross or Björk & freedom, also accept used clothes for reuse or recycling. Many such organizations have collection boxes where you can leave your textiles. Here are examples of things that can be recycled:
As of January 1, 2025, it is prohibited to throw textiles in the garbage. Photo: Han Guan/TT
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Wilma Fredrikssonwho works at Björk & frihet in Gothenburg, believes, however, that not everyone seems to have a clear understanding of what is okay to throw away.
– Quite often household rubbish ends up in the boxes, it’s boring, we don’t want rubbish, especially not food or compost, it can form larvae and mould, says Wilma Fredriksson in an interview in P4 Gothenburg.
Even vomit and sex toys are examples of things that can appear.
– It is not so nice to take people’s sex toys, we are people who stand and empty the boxes manually, it can be good to think about, says Wilma.
You should not do this when recycling old textiles
Even torn textiles are accepted if they are clean. However, there are certain things you should consider when recycling your old textiles:
It may also be good to consider that the rules regarding textile recycling may differ depending on which municipality you live in.
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