The EU textiles industry needs to reform its practices now or risk deteriorating further into an unsustainable and harmful business model, a new paper has warned.
- The paper, A Zero Waste Vision for Textiles – Chapter 2: Circular and toxic-free material flows, has been published by Zero Waste Europe.
- The paper emphasises the urgent need to phase out hazardous chemicals and tackle the release of microplastics, both of which cause a significant amount of pollution and are barriers to achieving a toxic-free circular economy.
- Consumers can be exposed to hazardous chemicals in textiles—such as PFAS and heavy metals—through skin contact, inhalation or unintentional ingestion of dust released from the materials.
- The most problematic chemicals can be found in textiles used by children and pregnant women, who are most vulnerable and may experience more adverse health effects.
- The paper argues that recycling plays a crucial role, but only once manufacturers ensure high-quality and durable products, while prioritising local reuse and upcycling.
- It outlines a vision where textile recycling is not just a niche activity but a cornerstone of the industry. ‘Downcycling’ is discouraged in the outlined best practices, meaning significant enhancements must be enacted in the preexisting infrastructure to allow high-quality fibres can be recycled.
THE WAY OUT: The paper has suggested some ways out of this situation:
- Strengthen the legislative frameworks to curb the environmental impact of textiles, including bans on hazardous chemicals and implementation of circularity requirements under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) Delegated Act for textiles.
- Ensure that when virgin materials are used for production, they come from bio-based and certified sources, while the principle of the cascading use for biomass must be enforced for bioplastics—meaning the use of material for durable products that are reusable and recyclable. Also, recycled content requirements must ensure that safe recycled content is always preferred over virgin input.
- Increase demand for local reuse by introducing economic incentives for repair or labour cost reductions for repair and upcycling businesses. The role of social economy actors must be recognised by, e.g., ensuring priority access to public tenders for collection and combining social and circular benefits. Also earmarking Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) fees to support a fund for change and justice that allocates funds to reuse and repair operations can make the sector more profitable.
- Ensure better regulation of textile waste exports by amending the current EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) as well as the Basel Convention, including the introduction of Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. Sorting for reuse must be enforced before exporting while support for the waste management capacity in recipient countries remains necessary.
- Introduce recycled content requirements and recyclability criteria under the EU ESPR and waste management performance targets under EPR schemes. Particular focus should be placed on ‘closed-loop-recycling’, including a new definition in EU-legislation as well as recycling targets.
