European Union

Rampant greenwashing in the textile-fashion-apparel industry is now up front on the EU radar as it declared the 'Proposal for a Directive on Green Claims', even as industry analysts call for it to be writ into law by Member States.

A new project addressing the technology-capacity gap in sorting for reuse and recycling to ensure that high-quality raw materials from non-wearable textile waste can be made available on a large scale, is in the works.

Discarded textiles in Europe, including used clothing and footwear, are an increasing waste and export problem. A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing shows that Europe faces a challenge in how to handle its own used textiles.

EURATEX, the European apparel & textile confederation is piloting a three-year project — RegioGreenTex — for companies to transition into new sustainable business models, including management of textile recycling.

A central European knowledge hub and go-to resource — ECOSYSTEX — has been created for latest research work and technology state-of-the-art information on all matters related to textile sustainability and circularity.

The textile sorting and recycling industry in Europe will most likely thrive moving forward what with many actors promising large capacities within a few years, the impetus also with the upcoming requirement of separate collection of textiles in 2025 in the EU.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has said that the market for textile waste in the region does not meet the criteria to be a well-functioning market, with a large chunk of it traded as secondary raw material for downcycling activities, and a minuscule volume recycled into new textiles for new products.

The European Union has launched a social media campaign targetted at youngsters and influencers in a bid to weed out fast fashion. The multilingual campaign – ReSet The Trend – is meant to engage Europeans in the battle against fast fashion and raise public awareness about the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. 

A Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) report states that existing approaches and initiatives to making fashion fair and sustainable, while an important step forward, are insufficient in addressing harmful business models.

Innovation in fibre-to-fibre recycling will be key in keeping textile fibres in the loop as volumes of non-reusable clothing are set to dramatically increase, exhorts a study commissioned by the umbrella organisation for recycling industries in Europe.