California's costly fashion burden threatens greenest state status: $99 million a year spent sending textiles to landfill

New report estimates California is landfilling 1.2 million tons of textiles a year, proposes solutions in scaling reuse infrastructure to create jobs, cut emissions, and reduce landfill costs

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- California can cement its role as the nation's leader on environmental policy by supporting textile reuse, according to a new report released today by USAgain in collaboration with Cascadia Consulting Group.

The report estimates that in 2021, nearly 1.2 million tons of textiles were sent to California landfills, creating avoidable disposal costs and environmental impacts. It estimates Californians spend around $99 million per year simply to landfill textiles that could - with improved systems and infrastructure - be reused or responsibly recycled to improve our economy and sustainable quality of life.

Under California's Responsible Textile Recovery Act (SB 707), California is shifting the responsibility for recovery from taxpayers to producers, requiring clothing and other textile companies to fund and operate a statewide system. 

Today's report concludes that California could unlock significant benefits if a percentage of textiles could be diverted from landfill to responsible reuse and recycling markets: diverting 10% of textiles to reuse could create 1,000 green jobs, while 24% could create 2,500 jobs. The report also finds that if reused clothes replaced newly produced ones, the state could significantly reduce emissions and save resources. Up to 1.7 million metric tons of CO2 could be saved if 24% of clothes currently landfilled were put back into circulation instead - equivalent to nearly five gas-powered industrial plants.

However, there is a practical implementation challenge: improving Californians' access to a collection system that can handle the increased recovery of used textiles. While donation bins are one of the easiest and most scalable methods to collect clothes from consumers, local siting and permitting rules can unintentionally restrict the very collection infrastructure on which SB 707 depends. Requirements such as permits, zoning limits, spacing rules, and servicing obligations may make it harder to build an accessible statewide network, particularly in communities that already lack drop-off options. 

"Reuse should always come first," said Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain, who commissioned the report. "Keeping clothing in use delivers the biggest environmental benefit because it preserves the water, energy, dyes, and materials already used in textile production. SB 707 is a real opportunity for California to lead, but success depends on making it simple for people to do the right thing with their unwanted clothing through convenient, community-based collection. And because international reuse markets help keep textiles circulating for longer, we also need a system that supports responsible end markets and transparency." 

"California has a strong foundation to build on," said Julie Cerenzia, Director at Cascadia Consulting Group. "The biggest win will be designing a system that works in the real world, and an important part of that system is convenient access to collection points. Each community in California has an opportunity to support this access for its residents, including through early engagement and updated regulations. With the right implementation, SB 707 can become a landmark circular economy success." 

Key findings and what comes next:

The report outlines the scale of the opportunity and the actions needed to deliver it:

• Scale the collection network quickly: A convenient, statewide system of used clothing collection is essential to achieving SB 707's goals and keeping textiles out of landfills. The key is making participation in textile donation effortless, with donation bins an important part of the solution.
• Remove friction in local siting rules for collection: City and county ordinances can be modernized to enable safe, well-managed donation bin collection points while maintaining community standards. 
• Prioritize reuse and responsible end markets: Reuse delivers the highest environmental benefit compared to recycling, incineration, or landfilling, and strong oversight and transparency can build public confidence in where used textiles go.

The report notes that the next two years of rulemaking and municipal decision-making will help determine whether SB 707 becomes a nationally recognized model for textile circularity or falls short due to implementation roadblocks.

Full report can be accessed here: https://www.usagain.com/california-textiles-epr-study

About USAgain:
https://www.usagain.com/

About Cascadia Consulting Group:
https://cascadiaconsulting.com/

Spokespeople from USAgain and Cascadia Consulting Group are available for interviews. B-roll and visuals of textile collection and sorting operations upon request.

SOURCE USAgain