Global EPR policies crucial for tackling textile waste: Report

To establish large-scale separate textile collection systems, dedicated, ongoing, and sufficient funding is essential to cover the net costs of managing all discarded textiles, not just those with high reuse value. EPR policies are identified as crucial mechanisms to secure such funding. EPR policies assign responsibility to producers for the collection, sorting, and recirculation of their products once discarded by consumers. When well-designed, these policies can significantly improve the cost-revenue dynamics for the separate collection, sorting, reuse, repair, and recycling of textiles. EPR also enhances transparency and traceability of global material flows and attracts capital investments necessary for infrastructure to reuse and recycle textiles at scale.

Brands and retailers need to design products for prolonged use and recycling. Low durability standards and the diverse materials and blends on the market complicate the efforts of collectors and recyclers to capture the full material value. EPR schemes risk losing effectiveness if products are not designed for durability and recyclability. Additionally, brands should ensure that virgin materials are sourced from renewable resources and produced through regenerative agricultural practices. EPR policies are more effective when coupled with industry efforts to adopt circular business models. These models, including repair, rental, remaking, and resale, offer revenue and cost benefits while yielding significant environmental savings, as per the ‘Pushing the boundaries of EPR policy for textiles (2024)’ report.

Collaborative, multi-brand systems are vital for achieving scale. A circular textiles system requires both local and global networks for collection, sorting, laundry, repair, resale, and recycling services. All industry actors must collaborate to co-create a circular supply network, sharing associated costs and risks.

Currently, large-scale textile-to-textile recycling operations are non-existent globally. A shared innovation agenda is necessary to focus efforts and investments on recycling technologies and design-for-recycling principles. Brands and retailers must support this emerging landscape by investing in reverse logistics infrastructure and engaging in long-term sourcing agreements with recyclers to facilitate the commercialisation of textile-to-textile recycling, the report added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)