Encouraging results from cotton-waste soil trial
A 12-month trial on a cotton farm in Queensland has shown it is possible to divert large amounts of cotton textile waste from landfill at end of life by returning it to cotton fields. The trial showed there was no harm to soil health or cotton yields. There could even be benefits to soil health, as well as a scalable solution to the global problem of textile waste.
Soil scientist Dr Oliver Knox, who runs a research platform called The Cotton Hub at the University of New England, has been involved in the trial. He said that, after 12 months, there was a slight increase in microbial activity in the soil.
He added that breaking down around two tonnes of cotton garments in the soil rather than in landfill had mitigated at least 2,000 kilos of CO2 equivalent.
There appeared to be no adverse effect from dyes and finishes, Dr Knox added, although “more testing is needed on a wider range of chemicals to be absolutely sure of that”.
Sam Goodwin, the farmer who hosted the trial at his cotton farm at Goondiwindi, explained that researchers had spread the cotton textile waste on his land a few months before cotton planting, in June 2021. “By January and the middle of the season, the cotton waste had all but disappeared, at the rate of 50 tonnes per hectare,” he explained.
He said he wouldn’t expect to see improvements in soil health or yield for at least five years because benefits need time to accumulate.
