Blankets, sheets, towels, clothing, footwear, carpets, and furniture fabrics all become part of the textile waste picture. The figures below focus on municipal solid waste, the nationwide measure used by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The latest national estimate covers 2018. This page will be refreshed when the agency publishes a newer nationwide update.
At a glance
The numbers most often cited
17.0M
tons of textiles entered the U.S. municipal waste stream in 2018
That was 5.8% of all municipal solid waste generated that year.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data2.5M
tons of textiles were recycled in the U.S. in 2018
The nationwide textile recycling rate was 14.7%.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data11.3M
tons of textiles were sent to landfills in 2018
Textiles made up 7.7% of all material landfilled that year.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data3.2M
tons of textiles were combusted with energy recovery in 2018
That represented 9.3% of material managed this way nationwide.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data193%
increase in textile waste generation from 1990 to 2018
EPA data rose from 5.81 million tons in 1990 to 17.03 million tons in 2018.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data85.3%
of textile waste was not recycled in 2018
This is the complement of EPA’s 14.7% nationwide recycling rate.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 dataHow to read these figures
Textile waste is broader than clothing
The Environmental Protection Agency defines this category broadly. Discarded clothing is the largest source, but the total also includes items such as sheets, towels, footwear, carpets, furniture textiles, and tires. The statistics should not be used as an estimate of clothing alone.
Reuse is also not included in the generation estimate. A textile that is reused may eventually enter the waste stream, but it is not counted until then. That distinction matters when comparing this page with resale, donation, or reuse figures from other sources.
Methodology and sources
Where these statistics come from
All figures on this page use the Environmental Protection Agency’s material-specific textile data for 2018, published on its “Textiles: Material-Specific Data” page and updated by the agency on March 19, 2026. Percentage figures that are not directly stated by the agency are shown only where they are simple calculations from the published totals, and that is noted next to the statistic.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Textiles: Material-Specific Data, published data year 2018.
- Historical comparison uses the agency’s 1990 and 2018 generation totals from the same table.
Cite this page
SnuggleAndSnark. “U.S. Textile Waste Statistics.” Updated September 15, 2026. Include the page title and link to this reference when sharing a statistic.
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