Can you recycle old denim jeans? It’s a complicated question, but there’s good news.
Most of us own at least one pair of jeans. They’re a casual, comfortable wardrobe staple, and they go with most tees, knits, jackets, and sweaters. But it turns out, they’re not always the most sustainable fashion choice. They use a heck of a lot of water, and the way some are produced can be toxic to workers.
But it’s not all bad. Denim is recyclable, which means that if you’re having a closet clearout, it might be possible to avoid the landfill. And it’s pretty durable, too, which means when you want to replace those old jeans, you don’t have to buy new. You can usually find plenty of decent pre-loved jeans lining the racks of thrift stores and vintage markets.
But there is something you need to keep in mind when you’re shopping for denim jeans: look out for stretch. You know, those jeans that move and feel like leggings? It turns out, those ones are a non-recyclable environmental nightmare.
It takes a lot of resources to produce denim jeans. Greenpeace notes that just one pair requires around 7,000 liters of water. And it’s also an incredibly pollutive process, too. According to research by Oxfam, all of the jeans owned in the U.K. are responsible for the same amount of emissions as flying around the world more than 2,300 times.
Jeans can also contain toxic azo dyes, which are linked to cancer; they are banned in the European Union and California. Some still get through, though. One study tested 150 textile samples and found azo dye in half. These toxic dyes are also responsible for dyeing entire rivers in China and Bangladesh, where many Western clothes are produced.
Beyond dyes, the manufacturing process itself has high human costs. Many denim factories rely on sandblasting — a finishing technique used to create that worn, faded look — which has been linked to fatal lung disease in workers. While some major brands have banned the practice, it remains widespread in unregulated supply chains. Certifications like GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and bluesign can help shoppers identify brands that hold their suppliers to higher labor and environmental standards.
You can find jeans that are produced without toxic chemicals, from sustainable brands like Nudie Jeans and Mud Jeans, for example. These brands also use organic and recycled cotton in their products, meaning they can be recycled. In fact, most jeans are made with a majority of cotton, which means they can be recycled easily.
Mud Jeans takes its sustainability model a step further with a lease program, allowing customers to rent a pair of jeans for a monthly fee, then return them at the end of the lease to be repaired, resold, or recycled. It’s a model that sidesteps the question of ownership entirely and keeps denim in circulation longer.
Can you recycle denim jeans?
Initiatives like Blue Jeans Go Green collect old denim jeans, they are then returned back to their original fiber state so that they can become something new. “Because cotton is a natural, sustainable fiber, your old denim can be kept out of a landfill and given a new life,” notes the initiative. All consumers need to do is take their denim to a drop-off location (stores like American Eagle and Frank and Oak are participants), and it will be picked up for recycling.
It’s worth knowing what recycled denim actually becomes. Most of it is downcycled into housing insulation — Bonded Logic’s UltraTouch Denim Insulation is one well-known example — rather than remade into new fabric. True fiber-to-fiber recycling, where old cotton becomes new cotton yarn, is still an emerging technology, though companies like Renewloom and Renewlyon are working to scale it.
But there’s a big catch with old denim. If it contains synthetic fibers, it’s much harder to recycle. Stretchy jeans are flexible and easy to move in, but they contain elastane, which is made from plastic.
“Stretch denim, which is conventionally made by blending cotton with elastane, a synthetic material, derived from finite fossil fuels, has a compromised biodegradability at its end of life,” sustainability consultant Philippa Grogan told The Spin Off. “Moreover, as synthetic elastane is often blended with cotton, it cannot even be recycled once the jeans are thrown away, as cotton cannot be separated from the stretch fiber.”
That said, some brands have been working on a solution for sustainable stretch denim. Italian brand Candiani Denim has created Coreva, “the world’s first compostable stretch denim fabric.” Instead of plastic elastic yarn, it uses natural rubber to give the material the same stretch and flexibility.
The material, which is already being used by several brands, including Kings of Indigo, Boyish Jeans, and Outerknown, isn’t recyclable, but it is biodegradable. “Coreva technology is really circular,” notes Candiani Denim. “Its raw materials become fabric, which at the end of its life can return to nature without impacting the ecosystem. [They turn] into compost and serve as fertilizer for new raw materials.”
One of the best things you can do for the planet is to shop vintage or secondhand. According to Oxfam, buying one pair of second-hand jeans a year could lead to a reduction in emissions that is comparable to traveling 3 billion fewer miles in a petrol car.
One often-overlooked way to extend the life of your denim: wash less. Levi’s famously advises washing jeans after every 10 wears, and some denim purists go much longer. Washing denim less frequently reduces water use, preserves the fabric, and slows the release of microplastics — a particular concern with stretch denim, which sheds synthetic fibers with every wash cycle.
You can also find a tailor or seamstress who can alter the jeans you already own if they no longer fit. But if you need to buy new, avoid synthetics and opt for cotton options, or choose brands that use new, innovative, and sustainable materials, like Coreva.
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