Cotton Australia is proud to announce it has signed on as an official supporter of Seamless – Australia’s first product clothing stewardship scheme.
By joining the initiative, Cotton Australia is committing to be part of the solution to reduce textile waste and promote a circular economy for fashion in Australia, starting on the farm.
The Australian cotton industry is already on the front foot, with the Cotton Farming Circularity Project trialling the return of cotton garments back to the soil to improve soil health.
Cotton to Market Project Lead Brooke Summers said becoming an official supporter of Seamless aligned with the Australian cotton industry’s vision to find a scalable solution for cotton textile waste in Australia.
“The industry's responsibility to sustainability doesn’t end with growing the cotton. We also believe our farmers may be able to help solve cotton textile waste challenges by returning materials to the farming system, as long as we can show value,” Brooke said.
"There is currently $3 million worth of R&D being funded by our farmers through the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, looking at some of the technical challenges, as well as the business and logistics models that may be required to deliver a solution at scale.
"We are excited to work with Seamless to explore this work further.”
Every year, 1.4 billion items of new clothing are manufactured or imported into Australia, and more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing ends up going to landfill.
Seamless is Australia’s national product clothing stewardship scheme, which recognises that transitioning to a circular clothing economy is a shared responsibility.
Achieving sustainable production and consumption of clothing, and positive outcomes for people and nature, requires collaboration across the entire clothing industry.
Seamless’ aim is to revolutionise how Australians choose, enjoy and recycle clothing, aiming for a circular clothing future by 2030.
Learn more about Seamless here.