The Basel process was expected to produce new controls on textile waste exports. Instead, it has exposed uncertainty over what counts as waste, what is actually being traded and whether the original diagnosis was correct.

EU prepares new reporting rules for textile waste and used textiles. The move signals growing pressure in the system and limited visibility into textile flows.

What actually happens to the clothes that are never sold? Each year, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of garments fail to find a buyer in Europe. Most are redistributed through secondary markets. But a smaller share simply disappears from view — with limited data on where it goes or how it is handled.

EU’s Ecodesign regulation will ban destruction of unsold clothing and introduce reporting requirements. But limited data on surplus flows leaves key system effects uncertain.

The EU ban on destroying unsold clothing is intended to reduce textile waste. But with recycling capacity still limited and reuse markets under pressure, the policy raises new questions about where surplus garments will go.

Debatten om miljöeffekterna av global second-hand-handel växer snabbt i takt med nya exportregler och policyförslag. Men hur stark är egentligen evidensen bakom antagandet att handeln driver miljöproblem i mottagarländer?

EU waste shipment rules and Basel Convention debates are placing second-hand textile exports at the centre of textile policy. But most environmental impacts occur earlier in the production chain.

After mandatory separate textile collection entered into force across the EU, RREUSE warns that collectors and sorters face rising volumes, weak material quality and delayed EPR financing.