The Media Line: UAE Textile Waste Push Tests Whether Circular Fashion Can Move Beyond Good Intentions 

UAE Textile Waste Push Tests Whether Circular Fashion Can Move Beyond Good Intentions 

Naseej brings national attention to the UAE’s textile waste problem, but experts say lasting change will depend on collection points, recycling capacity, consumer habits, and the economics of reuse 

By Giorgia Valente / The Media Line 

The UAE’s launch of Naseej, the National Initiative for Textile Circularity, will test whether a country known for malls, fast fashion, and high consumption can turn textile waste from an environmental afterthought into part of a working circular system. 

The initiative, launched under the directives of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, comes as the UAE is estimated to generate 220,000 metric tons of textile waste each year. It aims to create a more organized national system for collecting, reusing, recycling, and reducing textile waste while linking government agencies, businesses, researchers, recyclers, community organizations, and consumers. 

Circular textile systems aim to keep garments and fibers in use for as long as possible through reuse, repair, resale, upcycling, recycling, and reduced waste. 

That goal is easy to state and difficult to deliver. Across the UAE’s sustainable fashion and textile recovery ecosystem, business owners and advocates broadly welcome Naseej as an important national step. But they also warn that recycling alone will not solve the problem unless the country builds accessible collection systems, supports resale and repair, reduces overconsumption, and develops local capacity to handle materials that currently have few viable end-of-life options. 

Still, public details released so far leave open major questions: whether Naseej will lead to permanent neighborhood collection points, binding targets, brand obligations, long-term funding, enforcement mechanisms, or large-scale recycling facilities. 

Naseej brings together the National Projects Office, the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Emirates Foundation, Tadweer Group, researchers, businesses, and community partners to work on collection, recycling, consumer behavior, regulation, and circular business models. In practical terms, the initiative is expected to support national programs, improve collection and recycling infrastructure, advance pilot projects, and help create markets for circular textile solutions. 

Work on the initiative began during COP28 and included memorandums of understanding with partners across the textile sector, including fashion brands, manufacturers, recyclers, research institutions, and community organizations. Its first public activation, “The Fabric of Possibility,” is scheduled for June 5 to 7 at Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi before similar events expand to other parts of the country. 

For Jennifer Sault, founder and managing director of Thrift for Good, the urgency is already visible in the volume of unwanted clothing moving through the UAE. 

“An estimated 220,000 [metric] tons of clothing is going into landfill currently in the UAE. This is by a recent report that just came out on Naseej, the National Initiative for Textile Circularity,” Sault told The Media Line. 

Sault said fast fashion has accelerated the problem by encouraging higher production and making clothing easier to treat as disposable. According to the UN Environment Programme, 92 million metric tons of textile waste are produced globally each year. The agency has also cited Ellen MacArthur Foundation findings that clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2015, while the duration of garment use declined by 36%. 

“Clothing sustainability has become a growing concern, not just in the UAE, but globally, as producers and consumers shift more to fast fashion,” Sault said. 

The environmental problem, she said, is not only the quantity of discarded clothing but also what that clothing is made from. Synthetic materials such as polyester are derived from fossil fuels, shed microplastics, and can persist in the environment for decades or longer, depending on conditions. The European Parliament has cited estimates that textile production is responsible for about 20% of global clean water pollution, mainly from dyeing. 

“What’s more disturbing is that clothing is being produced much more cheaply, which means that the resources that go into it are not as good for the environment,” Sault said. 

She voiced concern about microplastics and chemical exposure. 

“Plastics are leaching off into waterways in our systems, into our food chains,” she said. “So it’s not just the environment, but our health as well.” 

The challenge, those working in the sector said, is that collection and recycling infrastructure have not kept pace with consumption. Sault said Thrift for Good has built a model that keeps nearly all of the clothing it receives in circulation through resale, repair, redistribution, stain treatment, redesign, upcycling, or recycling. But the organization’s scale is tiny compared with the national problem. 

“We have figured out how to be 99% circular with our clothing,” she said. 

Still, she said, the country lacks a system for many materials that are not cotton. 

“The cottons we can do here in the UAE, Landmark Recycling Center, does a great job and has a fair amount of capacity to take this,” Sault said. “But there’s still no system in the UAE for anything that’s not cotton. So polyester blends, other materials, those that are greatly soiled, shoes, bags, accessories, etc.” 

That limitation reflects a wider global problem. Textile recycling is technically difficult because many garments are made from blended fabrics, which must be sorted and separated before their fibers can be reused. A cotton shirt, a polyester dress, and a mixed-fiber garment may all require different sorting, processing, and end markets. Recycling mills also often require strict fiber quality standards, and collection systems are fragmented even in countries with advanced waste infrastructure. 

Sault said Thrift for Good processes about 12 tons of clothing each month. About one ton goes into recycling, and roughly 400 kilograms are likely to end up in landfills. 

“We’re quite small in terms of the scale of what’s needed in the UAE,” she said. “We’re just a scratch on the tip of an iceberg.” 

Circular fashion systems cost money before they reduce waste. Collection, sorting, transport, storage, repair, quality control, fiber separation, recycling technology, and markets for recovered materials all require investment. If resale margins are thin and recycling does not pay for itself, circularity can become dependent on subsidies, philanthropy, or policy intervention. 

Muhammad Virji, director of Universal Clothing and founder of Fashion Rerun and Efaar, welcomed Naseej as a step toward a more organized circular textile industry. 

“It is an important step toward building a stronger circular textile industry and encouraging more sustainable use of clothing and textiles across the country,” Virji told The Media Line. 

Virji’s work focuses on the value that remains in clothing after its first use. He said discarded garments should not be treated automatically as waste when they can still be reused, resold, upcycled, recycled, or sorted for another purpose. 

“Many clothes and textiles still have value after their first use,” he said. 

The practical barriers, he said, are awareness, convenience, and collection. Many consumers may want to make better choices but do not know where to take unwanted clothing or what happens after they dispose of it. 

“Making collection and recycling easier can help increase participation,” he said. 

Virji said responsibility must be shared among consumers, retailers, brands, policymakers, recyclers, and reuse businesses. Consumers can care for garments and use resale or recycling options. Retailers and brands can educate customers and support circular initiatives. Government can connect partners and help build the systems that allow those efforts to scale. 

The UAE already has companies and community groups working in resale, upcycling, recycling, sorting, and textile recovery, he said. The next step is linking them into a larger chain. 

“The opportunity now is to continue connecting these efforts so more textiles stay in use for longer,” Virji said. 

His companies operate across different stages of that chain. Universal Clothing sorts and grades textiles so they can be directed to appropriate uses. Fashion Rerun focuses on resale. Efaar transforms existing textiles into new products through rework and upcycling. 

Araceli Gallego, founder of GoShopia.com and Fashion Revolution UAE country coordinator, said Naseej is a positive step because it recognizes textile waste as a national issue. But she said the success of circular fashion will depend on whether the initiative moves beyond recycling and supports the community-level work that changes behavior. 

“The launch of Naseej is a very positive step for the UAE and an important recognition of the need to address textile waste at a national level,” Gallego told The Media Line. “At Fashion Revolution UAE, we believe circularity goes far beyond recycling.” 

Gallego said Fashion Revolution UAE works through clothes swaps, repair and mending sessions, styling masterclasses, workshops, and community events. The goal, she said, is to extend the life of garments and keep textiles out of landfills while giving consumers practical alternatives to buying new. 

“We also work closely with sustainable fashion designers, upcyclers, thrift shops, and stylists to promote more conscious ways of producing and consuming fashion,” she said. 

Community initiatives are still small, but Gallego said they are helping create a culture around repair, reuse, and sustainable design. Each April, Fashion Revolution UAE holds Fashion Revolution Week. In May, the group took part in Rooted at Alserkal Avenue, a community-led cultural program that brought together art, creativity, and sustainable fashion through exhibitions, talks, and workshops. 

“The UAE has a small but growing ecosystem of people and organizations contributing to textile circularity,” she said. 

That challenge is sharpened by the UAE’s retail model. The country’s malls make fast fashion highly visible, convenient, and accessible, while sustainable labels often lack comparable reach. High retail rents can favor large brands, leaving smaller sustainable businesses outside prime shopping locations. 

“The UAE is home to some of the world’s most impressive malls, making fast fashion incredibly convenient and accessible,” Gallego said. “However, high retail rents often mean that only large brands can secure space, leaving many sustainable labels without a presence in these prime locations.” 

Repair, resale, rental, and upcycling are expanding, she said, but they still lack the scale and convenience of buying something new. 

The fast-fashion question, the interviewees said, is not whether people should stop enjoying clothing, but whether the system can make better choices easier. Price, convenience, variety, climate, children outgrowing clothing, and limited access to affordable, sustainable alternatives all help explain why consumers continue to buy fast fashion even when they know the environmental costs. 

That market reality is not unique to the UAE. Fast fashion remains dominant not simply because consumers ignore sustainability concerns, but because it offers price, access, variety, and convenience. Kristen Classi-Zummo, an apparel industry analyst at Circana, made a similar point in comments to The Washington Post about fast fashion and sustainability. Consumers often care about environmental benefits when other factors are equal, she said, but a large price gap or lack of convenience can quickly change the decision. 

“If they’re then seeing a big price difference or it is not convenient, then they won’t buy,” Classi-Zummo told the newspaper. 

Gallego said consumers should be encouraged to buy fewer but better-quality items, extend garment life, support responsible brands, and make resale and repair part of ordinary shopping behavior. 

“The solution is not necessarily to stop people from enjoying fashion, but to encourage more conscious consumption,” she said. 

Virji framed the same idea as product life extension. 

“The focus should be on extending the life of clothing,” he said. “Supporting collection, resale, reuse, upcycling, and recycling helps ensure garments stay in use for longer and reduces unnecessary waste.” 

Sault said consumers have power through everyday purchasing decisions, but she also said companies and policymakers must act where market incentives fall short. 

“I truly believe that our dollar is our vote for the world we want to live in,” she said. “The companies we support are the legacies that we fuel and build.” 

Government has a role, Sault said, because recycling often does not pay for itself and cheaper products can crowd out more ethical alternatives. 

“Companies, of course, should be responsible. They should offer fair, equitable products,” Sault said. “And policymakers, I think, have the responsibility to protect against consumers just going for the cheapest prices, and protect that there has to be a bare minimum of ethics in the products that we have available.” 

Sault said fabric recycling is technically possible but needs public support, financing, and systems that make economic sense. 

“But recycling, it doesn’t really pay,” she said. “So I think there’s also a lot of space for governments to foster innovation, to fund recycling, to set up systems that make sense, to curb clothing from landfill long-term.” 

Naseej appears designed to answer some of these gaps by putting policy, research, collection, public outreach, and business innovation inside one national framework. The harder test will be whether that framework becomes visible in daily life: collection points in neighborhoods, repair and resale options that can compete with malls, sorting facilities that can handle mixed textiles, and recycling capacity that goes beyond cotton. 

Taken together, the interviewees said progress will depend less on slogans than on infrastructure: neighborhood collection points, sorting facilities, non-cotton recycling capacity, repair and resale options, and markets for recovered materials. Sault pointed to the need for recycling centers for non-cotton fabrics, shoes, and bags. Virji said success should be measured by how many textiles remain in circulation. Gallego said the first goal should be preventing waste before it is created. 

Gallego also warned against relying on exports as a convenient outlet for unwanted clothing. 

“Shipping waste elsewhere simply shifts the problem rather than addressing it,” Gallego said. “Instead, we should focus on building local capacity to manage, recover, and reduce the waste we generate within the UAE.” 

Gallego said no single organization can solve a waste problem of this size. 

“We need collaboration between government entities, brands, retailers, recyclers, charities, educational institutions, communities, cultural organizations, and consumers,” she said. “In my humble opinion, the most successful solutions will be those that combine infrastructure, education, innovation, and community engagement.” 

Virji described the same challenge as a value-chain problem. 

“Strong partnerships are essential across the textile value chain,” he said. “Government provides leadership, private companies contribute expertise and infrastructure, community organizations support collection and awareness, and consumers participate.” 

The UAE’s textile waste problem reflects a broader global contradiction. Fashion remains a major cultural and economic force, but its current consumption model produces waste that is increasingly difficult to ignore. Naseej gives the UAE a national platform to address that contradiction. The work of local actors such as Thrift for Good, Universal Clothing, Fashion Rerun, Efaar, GoShopia.com, and Fashion Revolution UAE shows that pieces of the circular model already exist. 

The question now is whether those pieces can be connected, scaled, and made convenient enough to move circular fashion beyond committed consumers and into the habits of ordinary residents. 

The next stage will show whether Naseej can turn awareness into infrastructure. Without that, Naseej risks becoming another sustainability campaign. With it, the country could move closer to a textile system in which clothing is not simply bought, worn, and forgotten, but kept in use long enough to retain its value.