Turin giving a new life to textiles: a talk with Laura Ribotta, Environmental Innovation Expert

From City Stories by Energy Cities by Energy Cities

March 5, 2026 · 26 min

About this episode

The episode discusses how Turin is tackling textile waste through innovative solutions and community engagement.

There is this one shirt that you won’t wear anymore. It’s too good to be thrown away, but is there any alternative in your town? Each European generates 16 kilos of clothing and shoe waste per year, but only about 15 % is separately collected. The rest still ends up in mixed household waste. That’s why many European cities struggle with that textile waste: Shirts, shoes and towels pollute through microplastics, toxic emissions, and land use. Yes, textiles are a waste AND a climate issue. Torino, one of the 100 Climate Neutral Cities, decided to approach textiles differently by preventing them from becoming waste in the first place. Besides AI monitored containers and a very clever app, the city gave citizens the know-how to reduce, repair or recycle their textiles. and artisan engagement via two local initiatives. Let’s explore with Laura Ribotta, Environmental innovation expert at Comune di Torino how to lift the stigma of second hand, how police uniforms became the sweet spot and what other cities can learn. This episode was made possible thanks to the CLIMABOROUGH project, co-funded by the European Union and CINEA. It has the ambition to bridge the gap between design and…

People in this episode

Guest: Laura Ribotta

Topics covered

textile waste
climate change
urban innovation
recycling
sustainability

Keywords

clothing waste
AI monitored containers
repair
recycle
second hand stigma

Mentioned in this episode

Products: app for textile management

Places: Turin, Torino