Recycled clothing put to the test as pothole repair material in Kent

Discarded clothing is being tested as an alternative material for pothole repairs in Kent, with five defects filled using a low-carbon product incorporating recycled textile waste.

Maidstone Borough Council is trialling the material at Mote Park and Penenden Heath, where two potholes have been repaired at the park and three at the heath. The pilot is taking place entirely on council-owned land and does not involve public highways, which are maintained by Kent County Council.

The repair system uses recycled textile waste to fill most of the pothole, before a specialist surfacing layer is applied over the top. The repairs will now be monitored over the coming months to assess their behaviour under regular park use, maintenance traffic and changing weather conditions.

The trial addresses two separate challenges at once. Local authorities require practical and durable methods for repairing small pavement defects, while the UK generates around 1.45 million tonnes of used textiles each year. Almost half of this material is estimated to end up in general waste rather than being reused or recycled.

The approach provides an example of how waste streams that would normally have little engineering value can potentially be incorporated into infrastructure maintenance.

Rather than using the textile material for full-depth pavement reconstruction, the current trial is limited to localised pothole repairs. This allows engineers and asset managers to assess its performance under relatively controlled conditions before considering wider applications.

Key questions will include how well the repaired areas resist deformation, surface breakdown, moisture ingress and repeated loading. The interface between the textile-based fill and the existing pavement will also be important, particularly after prolonged wet weather or seasonal temperature changes.

Mote Park and Penenden Heath provide useful test environments because the repaired surfaces will still experience pedestrians, maintenance vehicles and routine service loads, but without immediately exposing an experimental material to heavily trafficked public roads.

The environmental case for the material is clear in principle, but its future will depend on engineering performance. For pothole repairs, durability is critical. A lower-carbon material only offers a real benefit if it remains in service long enough to avoid frequent replacement, additional labour and repeated use of maintenance equipment.

The council plans to monitor the five repairs over the coming months before drawing conclusions. If the material performs well, the results could be relevant to other local authorities considering lower-carbon options for footpaths, parks, car parks and other lightly trafficked surfaces.

The trial is still small, but it reflects a wider shift in civil engineering toward treating waste materials as potential construction resources. The important next step is proving that recycled textiles can offer not only environmental benefits, but also the mechanical performance and durability expected from a pavement repair.