Recycled wool
{{Short description|Textile made from shredded and respun wool}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
File:Recycled wool pile.jpgRecycled wool, also known as rag wool or shoddy is any woollen textile or yarn made by shredding existing fabric and re-spinning the resulting fibres. Textile recycling is an important mechanism for reducing the need for raw wool in manufacturing.
Shoddy was invented by Benjamin Law of Batley in 1813.{{Cite book |last=Jubb |first=Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/historyshoddytr00jubbgoog |title=The History of the Shoddy-trade: Its Rise, Progress, and Present Position |date=1860 |publisher=Houlston and Wright |location=London |language=English}}{{Cite book |last=Shell |first=Hanna Rose |title=Shoddy: From Devil's Dust to the Renaissance of Rags |publisher=University of Chicago |year=2020 |isbn=9780226377759 |location=Chicago |pages=19–35}} It was the dominant industry of Batley and neighbouring towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire, known as the Heavy Woollen District, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.{{Cite thesis |last=Malin |first=John Christopher |title=The West Riding recovered wool industry, ca. 1813–1939 |date=1979 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of York |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14148/ |doi=}}{{Cite book |last=Hudson |first=Pat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zuz1O78drsC |title=The Genesis of Industrial Capital: A Study of West Riding Wool Textile Industry, C.1750-1850 |date=2002-04-11 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521890892 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Clapham |first=J. H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2PmADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT86 |title=Revival: The Woollen and Worsted Industries (1907) |date=2018-12-20 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351342483 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Clapp |first=B. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29QFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 |title=An Environmental History of Britain since the Industrial Revolution |date=2014-07-15 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317893035 |language=en}} Following its decline in the United Kingdom, the centre of the shoddy trade shifted to the city of Panipat in India.{{Cite news |date=2017-09-07 |title=Panipat, the global centre for recycling textiles, is fading |url=https://www.economist.com/business/2017/09/07/panipat-the-global-centre-for-recycling-textiles-is-fading |access-date=2019-03-24 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}{{Cite web |date=2018-04-28 |title=In Panipat, the world's 'castoff capital', business hangs by a thread |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/more-lifestyle/in-panipat-the-world-s-castoff-capital-business-hangs-by-a-thread/story-CAnh2kH4DhB3SWrwqwGFpL.html |access-date=2019-03-24 |website=hindustantimes.com/ |language=en}} Efforts have been made to revive the British recycled wool industry in the 21st century.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Evergreen: From shoddy manufacture to textile recycling |url=https://www.endsreport.com/article/1561567/evergreen-shoddy-manufacture-textile-recycling |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2019-03-24 |website=ENDS Report}}
Terminology
Historically, recycled wool products were called rag wool. Manufacturers distinguished among three main categories of rag wool:
- Shoddy – made from loosely woven or "soft" textiles that could be pulled apart relatively easily;
- Mungo – made from "hard" fabrics such as felts, that were harder to disintegrate but resulted in a finer product;
- Extract – made from the wool portion of cotton/wool blended fabrics.
In practice, few outside the industry were aware of these distinctions, even when rag wool was widely used.{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=8 April 1871 |title=A City of Honest Imposture |url=http://www.maggieblanck.com/Land/Shoddy.html |journal=All the Year Round |volume=5 |issue=25 |pages=441 |via=}} The common name was shoddy, which became a generalised term for poor quality goods. It is still used as a technical term for recycled wool within the industry.
Regulators in the United States make a distinction between reprocessed wool, which is made from manufactured wool products that were never used by the consumer, and reused wool, which the consumer has used.Robert E. Freer. [https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/674191/194607_freer_the_wool_products_labeling_act_of_1939.pdf "The Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605081144/https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/674191/194607_freer_the_wool_products_labeling_act_of_1939.pdf|date=2016-06-05}} Temple Law Quarterly. 20.1 (July 1946). p. 47. Reprinted at ftc.gov. Retrieved 1 May 2016. Other bodies refer to these as pre-consumer and post-consumer waste material.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=13 April 2018 |title=Recycled Wool: A Primer for Newcomers & Rediscoverers |url=https://europeanoutdoorgroup.com/outreach/csr-sustainability/public-resources/recycled-wool-primer-newcomers-rediscoverers/ |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2019-03-24 |website= |publisher=European Outdoor Group |language=en}}
The terms virgin wool and new wool are used to distinguish newly-produced, never-used wool from shoddy.{{Rp|13}}