The Australian Government has granted funding to Seamless, Australia’s clothing product stewardship scheme, to help drive industry collaboration for clothing recirculation.
This includes launching a new program to bolster a coordinated national clothing collection, sorting, reuse and recycling system Australia-wide.
The new program will include a focus on the clothing that can no longer be worn, with aims to overhaul more than 220,000 tonnes of clothing textiles waste ending up in Australian landfill.
At an event in Melbourne last week, Seamless CEO Ainsley Simpson launched the program, alongside the Seamless Circular Clothing Textiles Fund. The Fund will work with partners across Australia’s clothing and textiles industry – from clothing collection organisations to recycling operators – to invest in practical projects that collect, sort, process and recycle old clothes.
These projects, which are expected to run in metropolitan, regional and remote areas in Australia, will also provide data and insights into how the current system works, where the gaps and opportunities are, and what’s needed to build a coordinated national clothing system.
The information gathered will form the evidence for a scalable industry-led voluntary stewardship model.
“This program drives the transition to a new coordinated national clothing system for Australia that is expanded to collect and sort the clothes we can no longer wear,” Simpson said. “It also ensures that clothing textiles are given a second life and recycled into new, high-value products and materials. This will reduce the significant amount of clothing sent to Australian landfill each year, creating positive environmental outcomes and economic value.”
Findings from the program for the coordinated national clothing system and scalable industry-led voluntary stewardship model will be delivered on March 30, 2026. This should provide insights on the feasibility and effectiveness of current clothing pathways, the next markets for clothing, and future system requirements for economic viability, technology, infrastructure and capability.
Senator Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water said it’s important that the clothing industry in Australia be more responsible for the environmental impacts of clothing.
“Industry collaboration across the supply chain is necessary to ensure that improvements are made at all stages of the product’s life cycle,” Senator Watt said. “I look forward to seeing the progress made by Seamless in reducing clothing textile waste through improved design and recycling at end of life. Success in these areas will help Australia to transition to a more circular economy.”
Clean Up Australia chair Pip Kiernan added that is a key achievement for Seamless to score the grant funding from Federal Government.
“With this new program the exciting phase begins, where Seamless ramps up practical projects that reduce waste and boost sustainability in clothing textiles,” Kiernan said. “Through their collaboration with industry and communities, we will see momentum in encouraging sustainable choices in our everyday lives.
“There is much work to do, and it’s exciting to see Seamless working to reduce waste and achieve a circular clothing economy in Australia in such a practical way.”