A small Chilean startup is transforming discarded clothing from massive textile waste dumps in the Atacama Desert into insulation panels for buildings, offering a potential solution to both the country’s growing waste problem and shortage of affordable, energy efficient housing.
The Atacama Desert, near the cities of Iquique and Alto Hospicio, has become a major destination for unwanted second-hand and unsold clothing. Chile receives roughly 59,000 tonnes of such clothing each year from Europe, Asia and the United States, with a large portion eventually ending up in desert dumps.
According to a Circle Economy case study, around 40,000 tonnes of clothing is dumped annually, with textile waste covering more than 300 hectares of desert. One reported dumping area extends across hundreds of acres.
Engineer Franklin Zepeda, who founded EcoFibra in Alto Hospicio, saw the waste as a potential source of raw material rather than simply a disposal problem.
“I wanted to stop being the problem and start being the solution,” Zepeda said.
From discarded clothes to insulation
EcoFibra’s process begins by sorting discarded garments according to their material. Zippers, buttons and other hardware are removed before the remaining textile material is shredded.
The shredded fibres are then compressed into dense panels that can be used as building insulation. The material helps retain heat inside buildings while also providing sound insulation.
The company primarily targets low-cost social housing, where affordable insulation can improve living conditions while reducing the amount of textile waste sent to dumps or burned.
The approach is particularly relevant because much of the clothing discarded in the Atacama is synthetic or chemically treated and can take decades to degrade. Fires at textile dumps can also release hazardous smoke.
Environmental experts have highlighted the scale of Chile’s textile waste problem. Reinalina Chavarri of the University of Chile’s Sustainability Observatory has estimated that only about 1% of the country’s textile waste is recycled.
Recycling cannot match the scale of the waste
Despite the potential of EcoFibra’s technology, the company currently processes only a fraction of the waste entering the desert.
The factory handles close to eight tonnes of textile waste per day, compared with an estimated 40,000 tonnes dumped annually. This means even a successful recycling operation cannot by itself keep pace with the volume of clothing arriving in Chile.
The wider problem is linked to the country’s role as a major importer of used textiles. Chile imported about 131,000 tonnes of second-hand textiles in 2022, with an estimated 70% ending up in landfills or illegal dumping sites.
The contrast highlights the limits of recycling as a solution when waste generation continues to grow.
EcoFibra demonstrates that discarded textiles can be converted into useful construction materials instead of being burned or buried. However, the company’s relatively small processing capacity compared with the scale of the waste problem points to a larger challenge.
Reducing the amount of unwanted clothing entering the country, improving sorting and reuse systems and expanding textile recycling would be necessary alongside technologies that convert waste into new products.
For now, the Atacama offers a striking contrast: enormous piles of unwanted clothing continue to accumulate in the desert, while a small factory nearby is turning some of that same waste into material designed to make homes warmer and quieter.