Practices for garment industry’s post-consumer textile waste management in the circular economy context: an analysis on literature

Goal: This study aimed to identify and describe garment’s post-consumer textile waste management practices and to analyse them according to environmental, economic and social criteria in the circular economy context. Design / Methodology / Approach: A literature review was conducted to identify, collect and organize practices from garment’s post-consumer textile waste management and the environmental, economic and social criteria taken into account for the analysis of such practices in a circular context. Results: There were eleven collection practices, three sorting practices, five reuse practices, and six recycling practices. Additionally, even circularity is presented as a new solution to environmental problems, those practices identified in literature are pulled mainly downstream, promoting shortterm waste management approaches, while the initial production chain’s links continue to extract and use several non-renewable resources from the excessive way. Limitations of the investigation: The limitations of a literature review of this nature is the complete reliance on the defined strings to search the previously published research and the adopted procedures to select and evaluate these studies (data base, search period, exclusion criteria) Practical implications: For researchers and garment’s industry professionals, the identified practices should provide new solutions that could be tested in the current post-consumer textile waste management model. Moreover, this research allowed understanding the way those postconsumer textile waste management’s practices are interpreted under a circular context. Originality/Value: there is almost no detailed study of post-consumer textile waste management’s practices. Furthermore, it is very rare to find those textile waste management practices related in a circular context.


INTRODUCTION
Over the past few decades, the efficiency and management of natural resources have become an area of great interest for researchers, manufacturers, and professionals to close the material cycles and move towards a circular economy (Bukhari et al., 2018). According to Norris (2019), the garment industry seeks for practices that guarantee the maximum use of resources rather than aim only at final proper disposal of clothing items.
The emergence of these practices occurs due to the current production model. This linear model has caused several negative environmental impacts in the use of raw materials, water and energy throughout all links in the production chain (Allwood et al., 2006;Pal and Gander, 2018).
This model also had caused problems related with economical aspects, since this current model is not advantageous considering the substantial financial losses in the manufacturing process (Norris, 2019). In adittion, consumers of clothing items are increasingly aware of the negative environmental and social impacts generated by the production and disposal of textiles (McNeill and Snowdon, 2019).
Thus, theorists have suggested (Franco, 2017;Pedersen and Hvass, 2019;McNeill and Snowdon, 2019) new business models, which potentially align the management of textile waste in a context of using these resources to their maximum capacity, such practices inserted in circular models of production.
In summary, practices inserted in a circular context means promoting the maximum use of resources and mitigating environmental impacts during the production and consumption processes (Bech et al., 2019). According to Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017), the focus of textile waste management in the circular economy should be on the maximum use of clothing, reducing consumption, and recycling resources. This is because, despite the share of textile waste is relatively small in terms of volume compared to other waste streams, its impact on the environment and human health is high and it is increasing due to the current production model (Bukhari et al., 2018). Therefore, since the garment industry operates in a linear way, being suffering by environmental and social impacts, and economic challenges, the Circular Economy can assist as a regenerative and restorative model, which aims to maintain products, components and materials at their highest level of utility and value (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2017;Franco, 2017) Thus, a theoretical analysis of collection, sorting, and reinsertion practices for clothing items in a circular context presents interesting questions as it makes it possible to demonstrate how the current collection, sorting, and reinsertion systems are operated in the fashion production chain (Hvass, 2014;Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2017;Franco, 2017;Norris, 2019;McNeill and Snowdon, 2019,) the research's questions arise.
In the context of the circular economy, this study aimed to identify and describe garment's post-consumer textile waste management practices and to analyse them according to environmental, economic and social criteria.

METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES
The procedures were delimited based on the criteria of location, selection and validation of the material, synthesis and analysis of content and presentation of the results, as demonstrated in Figure 1.
Initially, the search and selection of articles to compose the portfolio was carried out. The ISI Web of Science, Scopus, Compendex, and Elsevier databases were used to locate the articles. Those data based were chosen since they have been used in other studies on circular economics (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017;Govindan and Hasanagic, 2018).
To import and organize the selected publications, the EndNote ® software was used. The criteria defined for searching the databases were: (1) there is no restriction on the publication period; (2) the search was made only on the title, abstract, and keywords; (3) only article or review studies published in English were considered. The material was collected in January 2020, comprising publications until then.
After completing the search for the 9 keywords in the 4 databases, it was obtained 64 articles aligned to the research. For the synthesis and analysis of findings, content analysis was chosen as the method, adapted from Bardin (2010), which works the coding and extraction of content from the division of the material into (1) registration units and, (2) thematic axes.
In this study, three thematic axes were developed: (a) circular economy (circular aspects take into account), (b) practices (description of the activities, resources and responsibles), (c) criteria (environmental, economic, social). For data processing, it was used Excel ® software.

Textile waste management and circular economy
Currently, the way that clothes are designed, produced, and used is not environmental beneficial and it is becoming increasingly clear that turning the way that clothes are produced into a circular one is by no means an easy task. Examples of reverse logistics systems or closedloop supply chains have been developed to improve the sustainability of discarded items (Larney and Van Aardt, 2010;Hu et al., 2014;Leal-Filho et al., 2019).
These examples and other practices for effective clothing waste management are motivated by the increasing cost of production, the decrease in natural resources, and in the lack of availability of space in landfills (Larney and Van Aardt, 2010). Thus, circular practices among the supply-chain could have the potential to transform the way textiles are produced, consumed, and being disposed (Staicu and Pop, 2018). Palm et al. (2014) addresses the different forms of post-consumer textiles waste management in Nordic countries, dividing the process in: collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling. In summary, collection indicates gathering of products from all customers and transport to the next waste management step.
The sorting process depends on the final objective (reuse or recycling) and the quantity collected. Finally, reinsertion indicates sending the textile waste to reuse or recycling (Beh et al., 2016). According to Burton (2018), the garment industry faces a variety of collection, sorting, reuse and recycling practices of post-consumer items.
In terms of complexity of these different practices in a circular context, Leal-Filho et al. (2019) point out that by identifying what are the decisive criteria to choose a particular waste management practice, it makes it possible to clarify how these practices are chosen as well as the performance of such initiative in an economic, environmental or social context. According to Savageau (2011), though these criteria may be inexhaustible, if standardized make it possible to compare practices applied in different contexts (type of company) and distinct regions. Thus, in order to analyze the practices identified in the literature in a circular context, the criteria on this paper will be divided into economic, environmental and social points. Table 1 presents the criteria identified in the literature for the analysis of collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling practices.  The post-consumer textile waste management practices identified in the literature will be presented below. The following sections (items 3.2 to 3.5) detail the practices in collection, sorting, reuse and recycling practices of post-consumer textile waste management.
In the case of eco points (charity, recycling or municipal management), collectors are located at the institution itself or with partner companies (example: eco points in supermarkets) for items in good condition (clothes, bed, table, and bath), shoes, and accessories to be sold in thrift stores, donated to charities, or non-usable textile (for recycling) to be sent for recycling or, ultimately, sent for energy recovery.
On the other hand, the collection of thrift stores, on the other hand, occurs when consumers make the clothes available for selection and resale (with a share of the profits), being able to leave the clothing items in the store or removed at their residence (Palm et al., 2014). Although the flea market also collects clothes in good condition, it is pushed by exclusive clothing items and / or vintages (Burton, 2018).
For Take-back, the collectors are found inside the store and the clothes collected are exclusively from the retailer's brand. In this case, they are only accepted if they are suitable for reuse in sales of outlets or remodeling the item. The consumer delivers the product to a seller who analyses the part and indicates the disposal collector, while the consumer receives a discount voucher.
Meanwhile, more complex collection systems, such as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), occur in two routes: (1) public management delegating the function to private companies to operate textile waste management system; or (2) clothing companies organize themselves and formally establish a collection project approved by the public management (Bukhari et al., 2018).
Finally, there is kerbside, which can be in an individual way. In this case, it is communicated to the residents of the region and the textiles are collected (properly packaged) in front of the residences. Regarding partnership, clothing booths are located in residential areas and the collection practice takes place by an outsourced company that seeks unused textiles in residences.

Post-consumer textile waste sorting schemes
At this stage, the main activity is to identify and select clothing items collected in good condition to ensure that they are not seen as waste, but as high value-added products (Larney and Van Aardt, 2010). The practices used will also vary according to the final objective (reuse or recycling) and the quantity of textile's waste collected. Eventually, sorting activities can occur alongside collection activities (Nayak et al., 2019).
The main practices of sorting identified in the literature were: manual (7), semi-automatic (3), and automatic (1). Manual sorting is being the most used, especially due to the difficulty in tracking the materials used (Palm et al., 2014).
Finally, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) technology is already applied to separate plastic and plastic mixed with other materials, however, its application in textiles is still incipient due to the complex mixtures of fibers and additives that make sorting more complex than other materials (Palm et al., 2014).

Post-consumer textile waste reuse schemes
When compared to recycling practices, reuse practices are more important in terms of ensuring the circularity of resources in the production chain. In the practices of reuse and restoration, the basic functionality of the material is maintained, retaining its highest value for several production cycles (Paras and Pal, 2018).
In reuse, the collected and selected clothes can be converted into a: (1) thrift store or, (2) restoration. The thrift store is currently one of the most cited in the literature among second-hand retail practices (16 studies addressed the initiative). This is due to the broad characteristics involved in obtaining and disposing of items in this initiative: for example, thrift stores may have clothing items, whether for philanthropic purposes or donation.
Although not the best option from a circular point of view, downcycling practices usually occur when materials undergo reprocessing, producing leftovers and scraps. Even though downclycling practices does not promote greater logenvity, the premise of keeping the use of the textile prolonged is maintained.
According to Palm et al. (2014), in mechanical recycling, the textile can be: (a) transformed into yarn, (b) transformed into fiber, (c) remanufactured. While in chemical recycling, the item of clothing is mechanically torn and processed in a chemical solution that filters cellulose from a slow flow. The material obtained is capable of producing new textile fibers through the repolymerization process (Larney and Van Aardt, 2010).
The mixed technologies result from the process of obtaining the raw material, which may be the union of different sub-processes of mechanical recycling with chemical recycling. In special techniques, the textile is cutted into small pieces, then fabric is granulated and turned into chips that are melted and spun into new filament fibres used to make new fabrics (Palm et al., 2014).

Circular practices for post-consumer's textile waste management in the garment industry
Regarding the practices, from 64 studies analyzed, only 7 had an emphasis on the stages of collection, sorting, and reinsertion in the production chain, with 3 applied as a reuse (thrift store and upcycling) and 4 in recycling (emphasis on remanufacturing).
Also, there was little discussion about practices to separate textile waste. The researches that directly addressed this stage (7 studies) understand that currently the sorting process is carried out, in most cases, empirically (Palm et al., 2014), and with a high need for qualified labor to handle the collected items (Bukhari et al., 2018).
Finally, thermal recovery (the process of converting textile waste into energy) can be considered as an alternative that is also economically viable, however, in this study the scope of its activity will only occur in cases where the waste textiles have no possibility of reuse or recycling. Table 2 presents the article considered in this study related to textile waste in the garment industry.  An analysis of the articles located in Tabel 2 was conducted for creating the conceptual definition of post-consumer textile waste management taking into account: (a) the resources necessary for its application; (b) responsible for the practice. Such practices seek to keep textile resources in closed cycles within the production and consumption processes at their highest level.
It is also worth noting that literature review have shown some practices are not necessarily limited to a single step of textile waste management (e.g. thrift store) and the presence of practices that are similar concerning the scope of activities (e.g. eco points). Therefore, it was unified as follows: (1) charity eco points, recycling, municipal management and community collection; (2) Thrift store, flea market, and online platform; (3) Take-back and EPR, (4) Restoration and Remanufacturing.
Finally, the conceptual definition did not consider energy recovery, although it points out as a final solution in cases where no other method of reuse or recycling can be applied. Table  3 presents the final definition of the practices identified in the literature for the management of textile waste in the post-consumption of the clothing industry in the context of the circular economy. Lund (1975)   synthetic fibers) and it is processed in the same product with similar quality Bukhari et al. (2018), Lund (1975)

Analysis of garment's industry post-consumer textile waste management practices
Based on the practices defined in Table 3, an analysis of these practices was carried out using the criteria defined in Section 3.1. From a literature point of view, the intention is to analyze the practices identified in an environmental, economic and social perspective.
From the environmental analysis, collection (e.g. eco points) and reuse (e.g. thrift store) practices have a better performance. The problem with isolating the analysis only to eco points is that the activity is not self-sufficient. Being a middle activity, it makes the ecopoints depending on the final activity (usually reuse or recycling) who will actually define whether the negative environmental impact will be greater or not. Table 4 presents the environmental analysis of the practices identified in the literature, in the context of the Circular Economy. The classification is subjective and defined from "---" to very disadvantageous to "+++" which indicates very beneficial compared to other practices.  Besides, recycling practices suffer mainly from disadvantages when considering water and energy consumption criteria. Currently, this is because the garment industry does not have technologies capable of recovering the textile with less water and energy during the process.
However, from economic criteria, recycling practices showed more benefits when compared to reuse practices. This is due to the fact that recycling practices are capable of handling larger volumes of textile waste. Table 5 presents the economic analysis of the practices identified in the literature, in the context of the Circular Economy.
As indicated in Table 5, reuse practices still lack technologies that enhance activities and facilitate processes that are mostly carried out manually. Those types of practices (reuse) demand a more qualified workforce and it makes the collection process (input of raw material) and the final product (reuse) more costly both from financial and production time's point of view.  Another economical criteria observed is the cost of transportation. It was noticed that none of the practices has an advantage over the others in relation to this criteria. This is due the high complexity of actions involved during this process (Noman et al., 2013;Bukhari et al., 2018).
When analyzed under social criteria, all circular practices have shown that they need improvements in the context of worker health and safety criteria. As they are still in a reactive environment, the practices are more responsive to latent external demand (due to consumer pressure or public management) than necessarily improving their activities in a more controlled environment.
This process ends up making the adjustments also reactive, that is, extreme action must take place so that the necessary precautions are taken. This issue was widely seen in macro processes, such as EPR systems or municipal textile waste management, which encompass a larger number of employees. Studies in this area appear with greater intensity in the period between 2018 and 2019 (4 articles identified), proving to be an emerging concern.
The availability of participation by vulnerable groups also depends on the scope of the business. This is because there are practices that require more technical specialization (recycling practices). Usually, the participation of groups of vulnerable people occurs more in the collection stage, which allows inserting even associations of individual collectors, endowed with the necessary knowledge to perform a better screening. Table 6 presents the social analysis of the practices identified in the literature, in the context of the Circular Economy. In summary, the conceptual definition of the textile waste management practices in postconsumption allowed to conclude that although promoted as a new solution to the environmental problems of the garment industry, circularity is pulled mainly downstream. The practices identified are promoting approaches to the management of clothing short-term waste, while the initial links in the production chain continue to extract and use excessive amounts of non-renewable resources.
Although the circular economy is often seen as an environmental alternative superior to the linear economy model, it is necessary to understand that such practices depend on the contributions of various stakeholders to the business models. In this way, increasingly improving the current business model from managers and resources (especially technologies), allows studies to begin to leave the microstate of activities and include municipalities, regions, states, and so on.

CONCLUSION
Although the garment industry post-consumer waste management practices have been discussed as an alternative to changing the current linear model of extraction, production, and disposal of textile waste in the linear economy. Circular business models are still viewed uniquely, without taking into account the different dynamics between the different agents and resources existing in these processes.
Thus, it is concluded that that post-consumer textile waste has grown in importance in the clothing industry as it increases the frequency of purchase, the poor quality of clothing, and the reduction in price levels. In a circular context, this means a production and consumption's closed-cycle of textiles due to the reduced use of resources in production and through reuse (preferably) and recycling after the first cycle.
The literature also showed that practices for collection, sorting, and reinsertion of clothing items in post-consumption that adhered to the circular economy were mapped and organized. This identification aimed to answer the first objective of the research, having found eleven collection practices, three for sorting, five for reuse, and six for recycling.
It was also observed that the practices are not necessarily limited to a single step of textile waste management. This means that practices are viewed as a group of activities for textile waste management and not necessarily separated in collection, sorting, reuse or recycling.
Such practices were analyzed based on six environmental criteria, eight economic criteria, and three social criteria, all being found in the theoretical framework. Among them, the sufficiency of the collected resources, reduction in the generation of post-production waste, and the labor involved in the process stand out among other criteria.
Among recommendations of future studies, a replication of the same study in a practical way making an analysis solo or with clusters would contribute to understanding the real application in the garment market. Finally, measure the impact of the criteria identified quantitatively in a case study to assess whether waste management performance is really affected by criteria considered as priorities by the decision makers, being also an opportunity for future work.