Burning Questions

I recently joined Philip Berman on Ecotextile Talks for a conversation on textile incineration, recycling, and some of the more uncomfortable assumptions sitting underneath the circularity debate.

The episode is titled Fanning the flames of textile incineration, which probably gives away the starting point. We spoke about why incineration has become such a convenient villain in textile waste conversations, whether that framing is actually helping the recycling sector, and why the industry may be mistaking a visible waste problem for the full climate problem.

I do not think this is a simple defence of incineration, nor do I think it is a simple critique of recycling. The more interesting question is whether we are being honest enough about what is actually blocking textile circularity at scale.

A big thank you to Philip and Ecotextile News for having me on. I really enjoyed the chance to have a more nuanced conversation on a topic that often gets reduced to slogans.

You can listen to the full episode here: Fanning the flames of textile incineration

The piece that sparked this conversation is available here: