Novi Pazar Textile Industry Sustainable Weaving
January 15, 2025

Novi Pazar, January 14, 2025 – The textile industry is one of the biggest polluters of the environment. This negative impact in the consequence of large consumption of energy, water and chemicals in production processes, the ever-growing piling up of textile waste caused by ‘fast fashion’, while the washing of garments causes large quantities of microplastics to end up in seas and oceans. The gravity of the situation is illustrated by the information that 2700 litres of fresh water are needed to produce one cotton shirt, equalling the quantity of water necessary to satisfy one person’s hydration needs for 2.5 years. In order to tackle this major issue at a global level, the development of new business models is proposed to foster renting clothes, designing products in such a way to facilitate their future reuse and recycling, incentivising consumers to purchase higher quality, longer-lasting clothes, and an overall guidance for consumers to more sustainable options.
In our country, the textile industry has played an important role in economic development for centuries. In addition to a number of challenges that have accompanied it over the previous three decades, this industry continues to provide a sizable contribution to the Serbian economy. Novi Pazar is one of the most renowned textile centres, currently boasting 80 registered manufacturers. Conversely, the title of the biggest textile centre is coupled with the fact that approximately 60 tonnes of textile waste are produced annually, leading to major air pollution.
Mirsad Ikić, co-owner of “His-Exact”, a company that has been making jeans since 1988, testifies of the magnitude of this issue:
“Around 20 percent of waste material remained for any given cutting layout in the manufacturing process. If I tell you we’ve been making textiles for more than 30 years, it becomes clear we a re talking about a sizable amount of waste piling up.”
The Novi Pazar city administration and the City Cleaning public utility company recognised the need for an urgent reaction to the issue of textile waste pile-up and launched an initiative for its collection from local manufacturers, including its transportation, storage and further distribution. They were supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) that donated some of the funds used to procure a specialised vehicle to collect textile waste, with the remainder coming from the City of Novi Pazar.
“Primary selection/separation is key, meaning waste needs to be separated at the point of origin. Textile waste is collected from manufacturers and temporarily stored at the Recycling Centre, after which it is forwarded to an operator that turns it into other products for the furniture industry. Therefore, in addition to reducing environmental pollution and helping textile manufacturers dispose of their waste, we are also contributing to returning a product that has lost its purpose into the industry. In other words, this is a good example of the circular economy”, director of the City Cleaning PUC Faruk Suljević said.
This helps to dispose of some of the textile waste that used to be transported to dumpsites or would end up as a heating source. 10 tonnes of textile waste was collected and reused during the first month of project implementation alone. ‘Mizan Line’ company praised the initiative because of its efficiency in waste collection.
“We can call on the Recycling centre to come over at any time, so our waste does not end up being piled, which in turn enables us to use our manufacturing facilities freely”, said Edin Totić.
Alongside reductions in environmental pollution, this initiative will also contribute to social inclusion and economic empowerment of the local population in line with the Novi Pazar Sustainable Development Strategy, considering that the Recycling centre hires people from vulnerable population categories.
The project has already yielded some tangible results. According to Suljević, there is much less textile waste at the main landfill and at dumpsites, representing a clear-cut benefit for the environment and the broader community. It is to be expected that textile waste will become a valuable raw material in the area, providing economic gains to businesspeople and enabling better working and living conditions to vulnerable populations.

The ‘Primary textile waste recycling contributing to solving the issue of textile waste disposal’ solution was supported within the project titled ‘Reducing the carbon footprint of local communities by applying circular economy principles in the Republic of Serbia - Circular Communities’, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and with financial backing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
See how textile waste recycling in Novi Pazar contributes to the circular economy in the following video: