FEAD, EuRIC urge immediate support for the European post-consumer textile sector during EPR transition
FEAD & EuRIC welcome the introduction of an EU-wide mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for textiles, a critical step agreed upon by EU co-legislators on 19 February, as part of the targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD). The introduction of EPR schemes across the EU is essential to safeguard competition in the single market and to incentivise much-needed investments in collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure for post-consumer textiles. However, while the incentives that the EPR schemes will provide is the right long-term solution to ensure textiles circularity, they do not address the post-consumer textile sector’s immediate crisis.
With Member States given 30 months after the rules’ entry into force to establish the EPR schemes, the post-consumer textile collection, sorting and recycling industries currently face a pressing crisis that requires urgent action.
As of 1 January 2025, Member States are obliged to separately collect textiles which will further increase the volumes of collected textiles, while quality of the collected used textiles will keep declining, particularly due to the rise of ultra-fast fashion. However, managing capacity has not expanded, nor have the outlets for the processed used textiles. On top of these, the handling of non-reusable textiles (both for recycling and energy recovery) remains costly for sorting and reuse operators, on top of the lack of market uptake for the recycled textile fibres. Without urgent support, valuable reusable and recyclable materials will be lost, and a whole industrial ecosystem that is key to the circular transition will collapse before EPR takes effect.
This conjuncture is challenging the financial sustainability of our industry and is potentially jeopardizing the resource autonomy of the EU. The existing operators wish to maintain and extend their important work, but they need support.
FEAD & EuRIC therefore propose ten key measures to support the post-consumer textile sector until EPR schemes are effectively implemented and operational:
