Citation: Stefan, D.S.; Bosomoiu, M.; Stefan, M. Methods for Natural and Synthetic Polymers Recovery from Textile Waste. Polymers 2022, 14, 3939. https://doi.org/10.3390/ polym14193939 Academic Editors: Helena Felgueiras and Andrea Zille Received: 19 July 2022 Accepted: 14 September 2022 Published: 21 September 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). polymers Review Methods for Natural and Synthetic Polymers Recovery from Textile Waste Daniela Simina Stefan 1 , Magdalena Bosomoiu 1, * and Mircea Stefan 2 1 Department of Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania 2 Pharmacy Faculty, University Titu Maiorescu, 16, Ghe.Sincai Av, 040441 Bucharest, Romania * Correspondence: magdalena.bosomoiu@upb.ro Abstract: Trends in the textile industry show a continuous increase in the production and sale of textile materials, which in turn generates a huge amount of discarded clothing every year. This has a negative impact on the environment, on one side, by consuming resources—some of them non- renewables (to produce synthetic polymers)—and on the other side, by polluting the environment through the emission of GHGs (greenhouse gases), the generation of microplastics, and the release of toxic chemicals in the environment (dyes, chemical reagents, etc.). When natural polymers (e.g., cellulose, protein fibers) are used for the manufacturing of clothes, the negative impact is transferred to soil pollution (e.g., by using pesticides, fertilizers). In addition, for the manufacture of clothes from natural fibers, large amounts of water are consumed for irrigation. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the consumption of clothing is expected to increase by 63%, from 62 million tonnes in 2019 to 102 million tonnes in 2030. The current article aims to review the latest technologies that are suitable for better disposal of large quantities of textile waste. Keywords: textile waste valorization; environmental pollution; textile industry 1. Introduction Around 6 million tonnes of textiles are discarded every year in the European Union (EU), approximately 11 kg per person [1]. The textile industry is one of the most polluting, requiring large amounts of energy to produce synthetic fibers, and generally to produce clothes, consuming water and rejecting millions of liters of contaminated water every day, and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions [2]. In the EU, the textile industry has the fourth highest negative impact on the environment and climate change and the third highest negative impact for water and land use [1]. Water is mainly used for washing during the application of dyes. For instance, the presence of starch on natural fibers can block dye penetration into the fiber, as it is necessary to remove the starch before dyeing or printing [3]. It is estimated that about 200 L of water are used to produce 1 kg of textile materials [4]. The waters resulting from the production of textile materials are contaminated with organic compounds and metals such as Cr, As, Cu, and Zn [4,5]. Textile recycling aims to recover fibers, yarn, and fabrics, moving away from the traditional economy—which assumes manufacture, use, and disposal. The increase in demand and consequently in the production of textiles requires their valorization at the end of the life cycle in the context of the circular economy, thus keeping the materials in the loop as much as possible. The transition to a circular economy requires changes in production and consumption patterns. To implement the circular economy, a stronger collaboration between textile manufac- turers and recycling companies is needed, to collect information about the composition of textile materials, define methods for sorting these materials, and develop efficient methods of waste recycling and resource recovery. Polymers 2022, 14, 3939. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14193939 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers