Why are so many unsold products being destroyed in the EU?

Update (9 February 2026): The European Commission has announced new rules under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) aimed at stopping the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear. The policy shift is designed to increase transparency and introduce a targeted ban on destroying surplus goods, turning what has long been a hidden practice into an enforceable regulatory issue.

There is something uniquely maddening about the idea of a product being thrown away before anyone has even used it. Not worn out, not broken, not obsolete. Just unsold. Yet this is happening at scale across Europe’s consumer economy, across multiple product categories.

A new study from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) puts numbers on the problem. It estimates that around 21 percent of textiles placed on the EU market are left unsold, and that roughly half of those unsold textiles are ultimately destroyed. In other words, a large share of brand new clothing never reaches a wearer, and a significant portion ends up treated as waste anyway.

The study also covers electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). There, the share of unsold goods is lower, around 1.3 percent, but the report still highlights destruction as a real outcome in some channels, shaped by returns, logistics and commercial incentives.

This is not only a moral issue. It is also an environmental one. The emissions, water use and chemical impacts of making these products have already happened. When the products are destroyed, the damage remains, but the value is lost.

Why do companies destroy unsold products?

The JRC points to a set of structural drivers. Overproduction is one. High e-commerce return rates are another. Then there are the practical barriers: testing, repackaging, storage costs, complex internal decision making, and regulations that can make disposal feel simpler than reuse.

For many businesses, unsold stock is not treated as a resource. It is treated as a liability. And once a product is labelled a liability, the system is built to remove it quickly.

ESPR: what the EU plans to do about the destruction of unsold products

The JRC study directly supports the EU’s new regulatory push under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The regulation is best known for product design requirements, but it also reaches into what happens after products fail to sell. The EU’s strategy now has two connected parts.

First, transparency through disclosure requirements

Under Article 24, companies will be required to disclose how many unsold consumer products they discard, and what happens to them. This matters because the problem has long been driven by a lack of public visibility. Without reporting, destruction can stay hidden.

Second, restrictions through a targeted destruction ban

Under Article 25, the ESPR introduces a ban on destroying unsold textiles and footwear, and gives the Commission a pathway to extend that approach to other product groups over time.

The logic is simple. If companies can no longer destroy surplus quietly, they will need to plan differently. They may produce less, manage stock more carefully, and take secondary channels more seriously.

What the ESPR could mean for consumers and return systems

Most people will never see the warehouse decisions behind unsold stock. But the policy shift could still affect daily life. Return systems may become stricter. If managing unsold goods becomes more expensive, the era of effortless returns could face pressure.

More surplus may flow into outlets, resale, or donation channels, depending on how companies restructure logistics and incentives. That could mean more discounted goods available, but through different routes than traditional retail.

And if reporting works, consumers will gain a clearer picture of how much waste is built into the modern shopping model, even before a product has lived a single day.

When “unsold” goods enter resale: implications for second hand markets

The EU’s immediate focus is on unsold goods, not second hand trade as such. But the two worlds touch.

If destruction is restricted, more never used products will need somewhere to go. Some will end up in discount channels. Some may enter resale markets. And that could reshape the public meaning of second hand itself, not only as a reuse culture, but as a safety valve for overproduction.

The JRC study does not settle that broader debate. But it makes one thing harder to deny: Europe’s economy is producing so much surplus that even brand new products can become waste. The EU is now trying to turn that absurdity into enforceable rules.

Source: European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), Study on the destruction of unsold consumer products in the EU (2024).

Related policy: European Commission announcement on ESPR destruction ban for textiles and footwear (9 Feb 2026).