Recycling industry urges support

On 13 March, EuRIC (European Recycling Industries’ Confederation) and FEAD (European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services) issued a joint position paper, backing the introduction of an EU-wide mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for textiles, while highlighting the urgent challenges confronting the post-consumer textile sector.

With Member States having 30 months to establish EPR schemes, the textile collection, sorting, and recycling industries are in crisis and require immediate action.

Starting 1 January 2025, the separate collection of textiles have increased volumes, but quality has deteriorated due to ultra-fast fashion.

Meanwhile, capacity and outlets for processed textiles have not kept up, and handling non-reusable textiles remains costly. Without swift support, valuable materials will be lost, putting the industry’s sustainability and the EU’s resource autonomy at risk.

To tackle these challenges, FEAD and EuRIC propose ten key measures to support the post-consumer textile sector until EPR schemes are fully operational..