Systemic Overhaul Across Design, Disposal and Recycling Key to Advancing Circularity in Textiles

The foundation uses expert groups to inform system design, covering areas such as monitoring, innovation, advocacy, and communication. What value have these collaborative expert groups added, and how do they influence your decision-making? How difficult/easy is it to get people on board? 
Sekhar Lahiri: The Dutch EPR legislation is relatively new. Hence, we have to involve producers and importers actively to raise awareness. Furthermore, we involve not only them but also collectors, sorters and recyclers to gain a better understanding of what is currently happening in the textile value chain and to get insight about what can be done to further improve things from a circularity perspective. We find that all stakeholders show an increasing readiness to contribute to the circularity challenge as we are convinced as a foundation that proper collaboration along the textile value chain is key to get results.

Research shows that around 55 percent of discarded textiles still end up in residual waste. How is the foundation using insights from consumer disposal behaviour to tailor communication strategies that encourage separated collection and extend textile lifecycles? 
Sekhar Lahiri: Separate collection of textile must be improved in the Netherlands. That is one of the main conclusions of a study we conducted in the latter part of 2024. This is the main driver for our foundation to set up a multiyear consumer campaign to reach out to citizens to help them improve their disposal behaviour while at the same time explaining that textile is a resource and citizens can be part of the solution. All stakeholders will be participating, including thrift stores, professional collectors, municipalities and retailers.

Stichting UPV Textiel emphasises that circularity begins at the drawing board, encouraging recyclable design and enhanced traceability. How do you encourage producers to embed these principles into product design, and what systems support that integration? 
Sekhar Lahiri: The Dutch government has introduced EPR legislation that specifically holds producers and importers accountable for the textile value chain’s waste phase. There is currently no specific legislation in place with a focus on the producer phase of the textile value chain. However, our foundation encourages both producers and importers to work more on fibre-to-fibre recycling as their demand is an important lever to kickstart the currently nascent market for fibre-to-fibre recycling.

The foundation recognises and contracts dedicated collection, sorting, and recycling service providers, applying a Recognition Scheme and incentive-based fee structure. How does this system ensure quality standards and reliability across the collection chain? 
Sekhar Lahiri: With our Recognition Scheme we want to safeguard certain standards pertaining to CSR and/or environment. In this way, our foundation wants to work with all stakeholders active in the waste phase of the textile value chain toward a higher working standard in the coming years. At the same time, we conduct regular (third party) audits to improve reliability.

You’re tasked with building an EPR system that is effective, efficient, and affordable for producers. How do you strike a balance between delivering operational effectiveness and supporting the development of innovative, scalable circular solutions? What kind of work are you doing at the policy level (with govts, bureaucracy, etc) 
Sekhar Lahiri: Working on behalf of producers and importers we have an obligation to work on the legislative targets in such a way that is effective, efficient, and affordable. Competition with other producer organisations compels us to take this strategy as well. At the same time, we also aim to introduce more circularity focused business models in the waste phase over time. This will take time and effort and a specific focus on efficacy. In the end, we have to reach the legislative circularity goals with our stakeholders.

Stichting UPV Textiel collaborates with partners across EU countries to harmonise EPR systems and share knowledge. How can greater alignment across borders foster a more robust and scalable circular textile economy? What has your experience been so far? 
Sekhar Lahiri: With the new upcoming EU Waste Framework Directive there will be a patchwork of EPR textile schemes across the EU. We are striving, with our EU partners, to work towards a more coherent approach enabling a level playing field across the EU to be able to ensure a smooth transition towards more circularity.

Building a circular textile chain requires deep system change across the production, use, and end-of-life phases. As Stichting UPV Textiel looks beyond immediate EPR goals, what systemic transformations do you hope to see industry-wide in the coming 5–10 years? 
Sekhar Lahiri: In order to achieve tangible results in the long term we’ll have to better cooperate not only on local level across the entire textile value chain but on EU-level and international as well. This requires the active involvement of producers and importers, a better understanding of the challenge by consumers and in the waste phase considerable modernisation by collectors, sorters and recyclers. Issues such as industrial capacity, skills, workforce, innovation, technology to name a few, all play a role in this endeavour. In the end, I think one needs to come up with international agreements to ensure a more circular textile value chain with active involvement of not only the EU but also producing nations such as India.