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News
Humana opens new sorting plant in Leganés
24-09-2025
At a time when the textile reuse and recycling sector is undergoing a period of transformation, Humana Fundación Pueblo para Pueblo is facing this period with determination and opening one of the largest second-hand clothing and footwear sorting centres in Spain. The social economy organisation is moving without leaving Leganés (Madrid): it is leaving the facility where it has been based for 15 years and opening a new textile waste preparation for reuse (PxR) plant.
Since the beginning of September, one of Spain's largest second-hand clothing and footwear sorting centres has been operational, with a total area of 15,000 m² and a workforce of 90 people. Located in the Nuestra Señora de Butarque industrial estate, qualified staff manually sort 57,000 kg per day into more than 85 categories to maximise the potential of each garment, thanks to their knowledge of the global reuse market and local demand in importing countries.
The organisation began its activity in Spain in 1987 with the collection of textile waste in the province of Barcelona. Ten years later, it launched this service in the Community of Madrid and in 2000 it opened a sorting plant in Leganés. Since then, this is Humana's third move without leaving the southern municipality of Madrid.
Humana has two large facilities in Spain where it sorts thousands of tonnes of waste recovered annually (19,074 tonnes last year, equivalent to 77.2 million garments): one is in l'Ametlla del Vallès (Barcelona), which also houses its headquarters, and the second is in Leganés. In addition, there are four transfer plants (spaces where recovered textile waste is stored before being transferred to the PxR plants) in Andalusia, Asturias, the Valencian Community and Galicia. In total, the organisation has 23,000 m² of total capacity dedicated to the management of used textiles.
‘We have moved to a larger and more comfortable space for our teams, which allows us to consolidate the activities and staff that were previously spread across several locations,’ explains Humana's managing director, Elisabeth Molnar, who adds: ‘The increase in space dedicated to textile processing and storage in optimal conditions allows us to face the present and future challenges of the sector with greater guarantees: increased collection of textile waste, planned investment within the framework of the PERTE project and the opening of new stores, among others.’
The new facility has more than 70 clothing and footwear processing tables: 56 dedicated to clothing sorting, 8 to shoes, 4 to accessories and 5 to vintage items. The space is completed with areas for pressing and bale preparation, storage, and loading and unloading of textiles.
Since 2023, Humana has held certification from the consulting firm Mepex, which accredits the traceability of textile waste processed at the PxR plants in Leganés and l'Ametlla del Vallès. This certificate is awarded after passing a textile transparency report that certifies that more than 60% of the textile waste processed by Humana is reused as second-hand products, either in Spain or globally.
