Pre-consumer

Pre-consumer recycling is when the materials of manufacturing do not reach a consumer and are recycled. Pre-consumer recycled materials can be broken down and remade into similar or different materials, or can be sold "as is" to third party buyers who then use those materials for consumer products. One of the largest contributing industries to pre-consumer recycling is the textile industry which recycles fibers, fabrics, trims and unsold "new" garments to third party buyers.

There are generally two types of recycling: post-consumer and pre-consumer. Post-consumer recycling is the most heavily practiced form of recycling where the materials being recycled have already passed through the consumer market and are recycled or re-constituted into a product for the consumer market once again.

According to the Council for Textile Recycling, each year 750,000 tons of textile waste is recycled (pre and post consumer) into new raw materials for the automotive, furniture, mattress, coarse yarn, home furnishings, paper and other industries. Although, this amount accounts for 75% of textile waste in the United States, there is little research on textile excess produced in countries that play a larger role in the textile production of our world today. Countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, India and/or Bangladesh.

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