Extended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles is billed as the next big thing. But what changes are necessary to keep waste textiles out of residual waste bins?
In recent months, industry attention has been firmly focused on packaging reform. Meanwhile, around the world, Valpak’s global team is seeing EPR either in place or under discussion for items ranging from DIY equipment and carpet, to toys and furniture. And considering the findings of WRAP’s 2024 market situation report, it’s not surprising that textiles EPR is often pinpointed as the next big thing.
UK consumers top the tables for clothes-buying in Europe, and we aren’t shy when it comes to throwing unfashionable or unwanted garb away either. In 2022, the UK purchased 1.42 million tonnes of textiles while, at the same time, discarding even more.
Local authorities will be well-aware of the 711,000 tonnes finding their way into residual bins and HWRCs. Aside from snagging equipment at sorting facilities, we don’t currently have the technology or capacity to deal with such high volumes of textiles, so 84 per cent is sent to energy from waste, with a further 11 per cent landfilled.
If things are to move forward, we need to build links through the supply chain. Last year, Valpak published TextileFlow: From Waste to Worth, to help retailers understand the scale of opportunity for textile reuse and recycling, and to show how recycling can complement reuse in the development of a circular economy for textiles.
Fibre-to-fibre recycling is the holy grail but, while technologies develop rapidly, issues around collection, sorting, and pre-processing capacity currently limit the potential. The Valpak study identified the sorting process as key to achieving high recycling rates – so, if we are to build a circular textiles economy, significant investment in effective sorting infrastructure is needed.
The textiles industry is a truly global market. This means that what happens across the Channel will have an impact on behaviour and trends in the UK.
The EU has been one of the most vocal supporters of EPR for textiles. France, The Netherlands and Hungary already have legislation in place and, from 2025, all member states will be required to separately collect textiles such as clothing, accessories, blankets, bed linen, curtains, hats, footwear, mattresses and carpets. New financial responsibilities for producers will finance investments into separate collection, sorting, re-use and recycling, as well as funding research into technologies such as fibre-to-fibre recycling.
For producers, one of the greatest issues is how to deal with returns. According to Valpak’s sister company ReBound by Reconomy, up to half of the clothing bought online is returned. ReBound manages returns to track carbon impact, audit carriers and scrutinise the processing of returns.
Tackling textiles waste is no small feat. In 2023, we took things further, combining the expertise found across Reconomy to establish ReDress. ReDress incorporates horizon scanning, data management, environmental compliance, and omni-channel take-back and repair services, to help businesses understand and deal with their global obligations and support them to redress the environmental impact of fashion.
Reconomy is bringing all areas of the supply chain together. In Italy, we have launched a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) under the ReDress name, and we expect this approach to grow as textiles EPR takes off across Europe.
For local authorities, change may take time to trickle through but, as the world turns its attention to textiles, and technology develops, we can hope that textiles finding their way into household bins will become a thing of the past.
