The Australian government should establish labelling standards that inform consumers about the social and ecological footprint of the textiles they buy, a new study has implored.
- This, it has argued, would be similar to the mandatory standards for care labelling that already exist in the country, and could work in conjunction with the ‘ReMade in Australia’ brand and include information about the amount of recycled textiles (rTEX) and recycled PET (rPET) in a product.
- The recommendation has been made in the report Textiles waste in Australia: Reducing consumption and investing in circularity, published by Australia Institute.
- The report has been authored by Nina Gbor and Olivia Chollet.
SIMILAR MEASURES: The EU’s Sustainable Textiles Strategy also includes a plan to revise the Ecolabel criteria, which would provide a better framework for the use of sustainability-oriented labels.
- The EU is currently developing a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology, to be introduced by the end of 2024. This would lead to the creation of a mandatory label that would give consumers information about the environmental impact of any product throughout its complete lifecycle, based on 16 criteria.
- As part of a Climate and Resilience Law adopted in 2021, the French government is working on implementing an eco-labelling scheme for clothing.
- Items of clothing would be given a score based on eight criteria: water consumption, material durability, manufacturing conditions, the use of pesticides and chemicals, how much microplastic it is likely to release, the use of recycled material, and whether an item can be considered ‘fast fashion’.
THE CALL FOR AUSTRALIAN ECO LABELLING: The study has suggested that a good way to increase transparency in the Australian fashion industry would be to establish standards for labels that would tell consumers more about the social and ecological footprint of the textiles they buy, thus empowering them to make more informed choices.
- This would be similar to the mandatory standards for care labelling that already exist in Australia.
- Through the ReMade in Australia programme, the Commonwealth Government is seeking to create labelling to encourage consumers to buy products made with recycled materials.
- The website for the programme states that “Australians want to buy sustainable products, but three in five people find it hard to make sustainable purchases,” and that “the main cause of this is unclear labelling.”
- While this policy is focused on products manufactured domestically from recycled materials, a similar idea could be effectively applied to imported textiles sold on the Australian market.
- This would ideally inform consumers about the amount of recycled textiles (rTex) and recycled PET (rPET) in a product. The National Waste Policy Action Plan could also help, as it aims to make changes to the Australasian Recycling Label, which would “incorporate information about the percentage of recycled content in packaging.”
THE OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: The study found that Australia has surpassed the US as the world’s biggest consumer of textiles per capita, much of which is fast fashion that ends up in landfill.
- Australians buy an average of 56 new clothing items a year, more than the US (53), UK (33 items) and China (30). The average value per item purchased by Australians is AUD $13, far lower than the UK ($40), USA ($24), Japan ($30) or even Brazil ($16).
- More than 200,000 tonnes of clothing end up in landfill each year.
CRACKING DOWN ON FAST FASHION: The study singles out fast fashion for being responsible for post-consumer textile waste. It suggests that fast fashion waste could be curbed through policies including:
- A French-style fast fashion tax;
- Banning the export of textile waste within five years;
- Government-funded discounts for people who get old garments repaired;
- Federal investment to develop an Australian circular textiles industry;
- Greater support for community op shops and recycling initiatives.
