Textile Waste Calculator

The calculator uses average life cycle assessment (LCA) data for different fabric types — cotton, synthetic, wool, and mixed — which includes emissions from raw material extraction, manufacturing, transport, and end-of-life disposal. It then adjusts for your disposal method and washing habits to produce a personalised annual CO₂ estimate.

Different fabrics require vastly different resources to produce. Cotton is highly water-intensive (a single t-shirt can require over 2,700 litres of water), while synthetic fibres like polyester are derived from fossil fuels and shed microplastics in every wash. Wool has a high carbon footprint due to methane from livestock. Knowing your primary fabric type gives a more accurate footprint.

Globally, it is estimated that 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced each year, with the majority ending up in landfill or incinerated. In many countries, less than 1% of clothing is recycled into new fibres. Fast fashion has roughly doubled the rate of clothing consumption since 2000, making this one of the fastest-growing waste streams.

Yes, significantly. Donating or reselling clothes extends their usable life, which displaces the need to produce new garments and avoids landfill emissions. However, it's worth noting that only a portion of donated items are resold — surplus often gets shipped to developing nations or ends up in landfill there. Choosing quality over quantity remains the most impactful change.

A fashion footprint is the total environmental impact of a person's clothing consumption over time, including the CO₂ emissions, water usage, chemical pollution, and waste generated across the full lifecycle of their garments — from fibre production and manufacturing through to washing, wearing, and disposal.

Washing clothes accounts for a meaningful share of their lifetime environmental impact. Each cycle consumes water (typically 50–100 litres), energy, and releases around 0.6 kg of CO₂ depending on load size and temperature. Synthetic fabrics also shed hundreds of thousands of microplastic fibres per wash, which pass through wastewater treatment into waterways.

The WRAP Textiles Footprint Tool (also called the WRAP Textiles Footprint Calculator) is an industry-level tool developed by WRAP that helps retailers and brands on the UK Textiles Pact measure the full life cycle carbon and water impacts of their textile products. It covers scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and helps brands report on sustainability targets.

The most impactful steps include buying fewer, higher-quality items that last longer; washing clothes at lower temperatures and less frequently; choosing natural or recycled-content fabrics; donating or reselling unwanted clothes instead of binning them; and repairing items rather than replacing them. Even extending the life of a garment by 9 months can reduce its carbon, water, and waste footprint by around 20–30%.