The textile industry is undergoing drastic changes due to the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and smart sorting technologies. These innovations are not only making the business of recycling more efficient but also transforming the way garbage is handled in the garment production lines.
Global recycling market dynamics
According to Grand View Research, the global textile recycling market was valued at around USD 4.85 billion in 2024 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2% from 2025 to 2033, reaching an estimated USD 6.94 billion by 2033. Geographically, Europe maintained the largest market share in 2024, with Asia Pacific, particularly India, exhibiting strong forecasted growth.
Artificial Intelligence in recycling
Textile waste sorting with the help of AI is also one of the primary efficiency motivators in this industry. In Europe, advanced facilities are utilizing machine learning in conjunction with near-infrared (NIR) sensors and robotics to automatically detect fiber content, color, and quality. As an example, NewRetex in Denmark runs an AI-based sorting facility that takes 200 tonnes of textile waste each month, and plans to run 40,000 tonnes each year by 2025.
The CRTX.ai project in Germany is a combination of AI, spectroscopy, and robotics to perform high-precision fiber sorting of cleaner recycling streams, with Sweden’s FAIR project creating one of the largest annotated textile waste datasets to train AI models to be used in reuse and recycling.
There also exist organizations such as Refiberd that are implementing AI and hyperspectral imaging to scan and sort fabrics effectively in a manner that can be recycled.
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) researchers have developed a machine that uses AI coupled with laser technology to scan and cut non-recyclable materials from clothes and simplify the recycling process.
Norway-based technology TOMRA has unveiled AI-driven textile sorting methods that integrate computer vision and hyperspectral imaging to differentiate between fibers like cotton, polyester, and wool, and sort them out. The innovation can transform clothing waste into useful raw materials to create new textiles to make a transition to a circular fashion economy.
The textile wasteland of Bangladesh
For Bangladesh, AI-driven textile waste sorting presents a major untapped opportunity. With an estimated 577,000 metric tons of waste, mainly taking the form of cutting scraps, defects, and post-consumer textiles. Primarily in Gazipur, Narayanganj, and Chattogram, the country’s recycling ecosystem is still largely dependent on manual sorting. Implementation of AI-powered waste sorting plants would change the accuracy rates significantly, decrease the number of labor-intensive procedures, and open up fiber-to-fiber recycling to higher value. This would also facilitate the increasing circularity efforts that are happening in Bangladesh and its competitiveness, as the world demands more and more traceability and sustainable sourcing.
Modernization and transfer of technology of machines
The government is also lifting restrictions on smart machines and artificial intelligence in the textile sector to enhance the recycling process to avert the impact on the environment. The AI-based textile recycling industry could bring profit to global companies as they engage in partnerships with those businesses that have developed AI and smart sorting systems to facilitate the recycling process and improve the recovery of materials.
AI-powered smart sorting is redefining the economics of textile recycling. China’s DataBeyond Technology sorter achieves 99% accuracy and processes 5 tonnes per hour, cutting recycling costs by 18%. The UK’s Circle-8 Ecosystems now sorts 25,000 tonnes annually, boosting fibre-to-fibre efficiency by 40% and generating USD 12 million in new revenue.
Recycling of textiles using AI is a great opportunity that the global market and the Bangladesh market can find to respond to the emerging issues of textile dumping and environmental sustainability. With these technological solutions and their strategic implementation, stakeholders can play a role in a more circular and sustainable textile industry.
