Yes, you can recycle polyester, but it follows a slightly different process to recycling other fabrics. You can recycle polyester clothing and items in a textile or clothing recycling bin as normal. They’ll be sorted and separated from other fabrics at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and then be recycled in one of two ways:
Mechanical recycling – the plastics in polyester are melted down to create new yarn, which can only happen a few times as fibres lose their quality.
Chemical recycling – this breaks down the plastic molecules and forms them into new yarn for use creating fresh products.