WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE SEPARATE TEXTILE COLLECTION?

The generation of textile waste is problematic, as landfills are its primary end destination. As more clothes are produced, consumed, and thrown away than ever before, the current linear, take-make-dispose model is putting an enormous pressure on our planet – its resources, environment and climate.

The important transfer towards circular economy model requires many changes in the way the clothes are produced and in the buying and disposing habits of the consumers. Reducing the amount of clothes we have and prolonging their life is the best we could do.

Disposing the textile products separately is the only way they could get a second life – as clothes again or recycled to other products.

Facts about textile consumption

  • In EU-27 and Switzerland, as much as 7 million to 7.5 million tons of gross textile waste — a bit more than 15 kilograms per person — is generated each year. (1)

  • By 2030, the annual gross textile waste could rise to 9 million tons, corresponding to just below 20 kilograms per person. (1)

  • >1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing. (3)

  • As clothing comprises the largest share of EU textile consumption (81%), the trends of using garments for ever shorter periods before throwing them away contribute the most to unsustainable patterns of overproduction and overconsumption. (4)

  • The growing demand for textiles is fueling the inefficient use of non-renewable resources, including the production of synthetic fibers from fossil-fuels. (5)

  • In total, the global textile industry uses approximately 93 billion cubic meters of water per annum – enough to meet the annual consumption needs of five million people. (6)

  • The pressures to minimize production costs to meet consumer demand for affordable products, results in a complex and diverse global textile value chain that is faced with many social challenges. Thus child labour and low-wage workers are grave source of concern in the apparel industry.

Textile linear model negative consequences for people and the environment

  • European consumption of textiles has the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate change, after food housing and mobility.

  • The global fashion industry is estimated to emit 3 to 10 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions. (8)

  • Global textile production is estimated to be responsible for around 20 percent of global clean water pollution, due to the dyeing and finishing of products. (9)

  • Up to 35% of all the microplastics released into the environment can be traced back to textile products. (3)
  • Up to 40,000 tonnes of synthetic fibres are released every year in the effluent of washing machines only. (10)
  • Microplastic pollution is estimated to be approximately 900 fibers shed per square meter of fabric. (11)

  • The clothing and textile industry makes use of 1,900 chemicals, of which 165 are classified as hazardous by the European Union. (5)

Possible positive impact we could create through circular textile model

  • Consumers benefit longer from high quality affordable textiles. (3)

  • An average of 20 to 35 jobs are created for every 1.000 tonnes of textiles collected for re-use, such as selling them second-hand. (3)

  • Extending the life of clothes by nine extra months can reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by 20 to 30%;

  • If the number of times a garment is worn were doubled, GHG emissions would decrease by approximately 44%, as compared to the production of a new garment.(12)

  • Scaling in textile recycling could help in CO2e emissions reduction by around four million tons— equivalent to the cumulative emissions of a country the size of Iceland. (1)

In 2019, the European Commission identified the textile industry with significant environmental, climate and social impacts by using resources, water, land and chemicals and emitting greenhouse gases and pollutants.
The Circular Economy Action Plan was adopted by the Commission on 11 March 2020. Through streamlining of the regulatory framework, the plan aims at accelerating the transformational change required by the European Green Deal for achieving a cleaner, climate-neutral, resource-efficient and competitive economy.

The European Commission’s strategy on Sustainable Products in a Circular
Economy has flagged textiles as a sector with high priority to move to a circular economy. One of the first and comparatively easy to adopt measures aim at the management of the separate clothing collection in order to reduce waste and promote the repair and reuse of textiles.
The revised Waste Framework Directive requires Member States to establish systems for the separate collection of textile waste by 1st January 2025.

Separate collection should be established for all kinds of textile, in order to prevent it from reaching the landfill.

References:

1. Scaling textile recycling in Europe–turning waste into value, McKinsey &Company, July 2022; (Eurostat Prodcom database; Intecus, Germany report, 2020; ISPRA, 2021; ISPRA, 2022;)
2. European Environment Agency (EEA), 2019 Textiles and the environment in a circular economy;
3. Sustainable and Circular Textiles by 2030, Factsheet, European Commission, March 2022
4. JRC, 2021, Circular economy perspectives in the EU Textile sector
5. EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, March 2022
6. A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017
7. Euratex, 2020, Key facts and Figures
8. Fashion on climate, Global Fashion Agenda and McKinsey, 2020
9. Environmental impact of the textile and clothing industry, European Parliamentary Research Service, European Parliament, January 2019
10. Eunomia, 2018
11. Bethanie M. Carney Almroth et al., Quantifying shedding of synthetic fibers from textiles; a source of microplastics released into the environment, PubMed, October 28, 2017.
12. Durable, repairable and mainstream, ECOS Aril 2021