On Tuesday February 18th, the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on new measures to prevent and reduce waste from textiles across the European Union, in addition to those relating to food waste.

According to the deal, EU countries would have to establish producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, through which producers making textiles available in any EU country would have to cover the costs for their collection, sorting and recycling, 30 months after the entry into force of the directive.

These provisions would apply to all producers, including those using e-commerce tools and irrespective of whether they are established in an EU country or outside the EU. Micro-enterprises would need to comply with the EPR requirements 12 months later.

The new rules would cover products such as clothing and accessories, footwear, blankets, bed and kitchen linen, curtains and hats. At Parliament’s initiative, EU countries may also set up EPR schemes for the producers of mattresses.

Negotiators also agreed that member states should address ultra-fast fashion and fast fashion practices when setting out the financial contributions to the EPR schemes.

“During the final negotiations round, Parliament succeeded to secure provisions making sure that both food and textiles will be further reduced as part of the municipal waste,” said MEP Anna Zalewska. “We succeeded in ensuring feasible and realistic provisions for member states to implement food waste reduction policies and we managed to ensure that the agriculture sector will not be negatively impacted. We also set up the legal framework to ensure that producers contribute to the effective separate collection of textiles they produce. We managed to lower the administrative burden both for member states and economic operators.”

The Council is now expected to formally adopt its position, which can then be endorsed by the European Parliament in second reading.

Every year, 12.6 million tons of textile waste is generated in the EU. Clothing and footwear alone account for 5.2 million tons of waste, equivalent to 12 kg of waste per person every year. It is estimated that less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products.

In July 2023, the Commission proposed a revision of the EU rules on waste, targeted at food and textile waste. Under the existing rules, EU countries were already required to set up the separate collection of textiles by 1 January 2025.

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