T e x t i l e I n d u s t r y N e w s o n r e u s e , r e c y c l i n g a n d c i r c u l a r i t y
Something is changing in the European debate about circular textiles.
For years, much of the focus has been on collecting more used clothes, controlling textile waste and increasing recycling. But several recent developments point towards a broader view.
Three shifts stand out.
Something is changing in the European debate about circular textiles. For years, much of the focus has been on collecting more used clothes, controlling textile waste and increasing recycling. But several recent developments point towards a broader view.
Three shifts stand out.
LATEST KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Indonesian textile project highlights recycling barriers
October 12
EU moves to ease textile waste shipments within Europe
October 12
UK export controls create new barriers for textile recyclers
October 9
Waste or reuse moves to the next stage
September 30
A two-year industry project in Indonesia has made more than 4,300 tonnes of textile waste digitally traceable. Its findings show that material quality, technology and commercial demand remain major obstacles to actual recycling.
The European Commission has proposed simplifying cross-border shipments of certain textile waste streams for recycling within the EU, while tighter controls on exports to countries outside the bloc are being introduced.
British Environment Agency new documentation requirements are preventing overseas recycling facilities from being approved. The Textile Recycling Association warns that some required documents do not exist in the destination countries.
Governments and observers are being asked to comment on options for how the Basel Convention should address used textiles and textile waste. The deadline is 30 November.
Source: Rantai Tekstil Lestari
Source: European Commission
Source: Recycling International
Source: Basel Convention
THE TEXTILE WASTE INVESTIGATION
The global second-hand trade is not a charity system. It is a business built on buying, sorting, shipping and reselling products across continents. Every bale imported into Ghana has already passed through collectors, sorters, exporters, shipping companies, customs, wholesalers and traders. At every stage, somebody pays.
Mountains textile waste. That image has travelled the world — repeated, amplified and turned into a defining narrative about textile waste in Africa. But when we went there, the picture changed completely. What had been described as textile waste was mostly something else.
Former Swedish Minister for the Environment:
If the wrong conclusions are drawn, we will be in trouble
Related to the Basel Convention former Swedish Minister for the Environment Karolina Skog warns against drawing the wrong conclusion from an incomplete picture of the second-hand trade. If policy treats second-hand trade as waste export without solid evidence, it may damage one of the few circular textile systems already working at scale.
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