Sustainability experts highlight waste concerns regarding EPL club football shirts

The Guardian Sport1 min read • Latest: Aug 31, 2026, 10:00 AM

Last updated Aug 31, 2026

Sustainability experts highlight waste concerns regarding EPL club football shirts
Summary

Manchester United jerseys and other club shirts remain largely intact after burial, highlighting long-term environmental concerns regarding synthetic apparel. Joanna Czutkowna, a professional with two decades of experience in textiles and sustainability, conducted a decomposition test on a farm in Lancashire. While cotton items decayed within a year, the polyester-based jersey resisted degradation. The study underscores the ongoing waste generated by the frequent release of new football kits. Millions of jerseys are discarded each season, often ending up in landfills where they persist due to their synthetic composition. The demonstration serves as a critique of current club kit cycles and the materials used in manufacturing modern sports apparel.

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Key Details
  • Joanna Czutkowna buried a Manchester United jersey in a soil decomposition test.
  • The football shirt remained intact after one year while control fabrics degraded.
  • Synthetic fibers in modern jerseys cause significant long-term environmental waste.
  • Millions of football shirts are discarded annually across the sport.
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  • 10:00 AMThe Guardian SportIt’s time to get shirty about the short life of the football top
What they're saying
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With millions of club shirts going to waste every season, a radical recycling rethink is needed When Joanna Czutkowna buried a Manchester United jersey, a cotton T-shirt and a wool-cotton jumper in her Lancashire farm and dug it up a year later, the video went viral. The T-shirt had disappeared, apart from the seams (sewn with polyester thread), the jumper was 80% gone, but the United shirt remained – grubby but indestructible. (Insert joke here) The big reveal was not a surprise, certainly not to Czutkowna, who has worked in textiles and sustainability for 20 years, but it was a reminder: a football jersey is not just for Christmas, or even the next hundred Christmases. Continue reading...

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