As reuse and recycling capacities in Europe are limited, a large share of discarded and donated clothing and other textile products are exported to Africa and Asia. Once exported, the fate of used textiles is often uncertain, according to the EEA briefing titled ‘EU exports of used textiles in Europe’s circular economy’.

The briefing, based on a more detailed analysis by the EEA’s European Topic Centre of Circular Economy and Resource Use, looks at the patterns of and trends in EU exports of used textiles from 2000 to 2019.

According to analysed data from the United Nations, EU exports of textiles have increased and shifted from mainly African destinations to both Africa and Asia. The briefing also shows how some challenges related to these exports are being addressed in current and proposed EU policies. In the EU strategy on sustainable and circular textiles, published in March 2022, the need for addressing the challenges from exports is specifically mentioned.

The report found that the amount of used textiles exported from the EU has tripled over the past two decades from slightly over 550,000 tonnes in 2000 to almost 1.7 million tonnes in 2019. The quantity of used textiles exported in 2019 was on average 3.8 kgs per person, or 25 per cent of the approximately 15 kgs of textiles consumed each year in the EU.

In 2019, 46 per cent of used textiles exported from the EU ended up in Africa. The textiles primarily go to local reuse as there is a demand for cheap, used clothes from Europe. What is not fit for reuse mostly ends up in open landfills and informal waste streams.

In 2019, 41 per cent of used textiles exported from the EU ended up in Asia. Most of these textiles are directed to dedicated economic zones where they are sorted and processed. The used textiles are then mostly downcycled into industrial rags or filling, or re-exported for recycling in other Asian countries or for reuse in Africa. Textiles that cannot be recycled or re-exported likely end up in landfills.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)