At Salvos Stores, we see firsthand how serious Australia’s clothing waste problem has become. While many people donate generously, more and more items are unsellable due to being worn out or too damaged. As a result, a lot of these clothes end up in landfill or in recycling streams that are already struggling to keep up.

That’s where our Textile Recovery Facility (TRF) comes in.

The Problem: too many clothes, not enough solutions

Every year, clothing production keeps climbing. In Australia alone, 1.51 billion new garments arrive each year. At the same time, the pile of unwanted clothing is also growing.

The main issue is that most clothes are made from a mix of materials, such as cotton blended with polyester or elastane. These blends are tough to recycle and usually require a lot of manual work, like removing zippers, buttons, and labels, before the fabric can be reused.

The Vision: smarter sorting, bigger impact

TRF is Salvos Stores bold step toward a smarter, fairer, and more circular textile economy.

We’re not recycling clothes ourselves, we’re building the missing link that makes recycling easier for others.

We’re bringing in a top automated sorting system, developed with partners in Belgium, which will be set up in two stages over the next few months. This technology will sort clothes by fibre type and remove hardware like zips and buttons. The result? Clean, sorted fabric that’s ready to be recycled into new clothes, insulation, furniture stuffing, or even innovative new products.

The Beginning: from big idea to real action

TRF started in 2021 with a workshop at QUT’s ARM Hub. With support from the Queensland Government, Kmart, QUT, and local fashion sustainability experts, we asked one simple question:

What if we tackled clothing waste together?

That question has grown into a real, working solution. We’re proud to be the first in Australia to build an automated system designed to take on the hardest clothing waste.

The Ecosystem: Building the chain together

We know we’re not alone. Across Australia, many organisations are working to keep textiles out of landfill. Some collect donations, others recycle or repurpose fabrics locally or overseas.

But most run into the same barrier: they can only handle certain fibres, or they need items pre-sorted and stripped of hardware.

That’s where TRF steps in, filling the gaps and providing high-quality, tech-assured outputs. We’re helping to make the whole system more connected, more efficient, and ready to scale.

We’re proud to be part of a global movement that’s rethinking how we deal with clothing waste. Because at the end of the day, it’s simple:

Every piece of clothing deserves a second chance.

With the right tools, partnerships, and vision, TRF is making that future possible.

Learn more

To learn more or get involved, reach out to our Circular Economy team at circulareconomy@salvationarmy.org.au