The central issue is no longer only recycling capacity: it is whether consignments marketed as reusable clothing can be credibly distinguished from waste before they cross a border.
A June 24 side event at the Basel Convention’s Open-ended Working Group (OEWG-15) put used textiles and textile waste at the centre of an international trade-control debate. The session considered a potential new Annex II listing and clearer criteria separating reusable garments from discarded, contaminated or non-reusable textiles. No rule has been adopted: this is an input into the Convention’s formal policy process.
A gap in today’s controls
The event highlighted a core problem. Growing used-textile exports can contain low-value, contaminated or non-reusable materials, blurring legitimate reuse with waste dumping. Textile waste is not explicitly addressed in the Convention’s plastic-waste amendments despite the prevalence of synthetic fibres, leaving customs authorities and recipient countries without a textile-specific international classification pathway.
For collectors, graders, exporters and recyclers, ambiguity means inconsistent border enforcement, rejected shipments, higher port costs and reputational exposure. It also penalises legitimate operators, whose reusable grades can become indistinguishable from bales of poor-quality discards.
Why an Annex II listing matters
Annex II covers wastes requiring special consideration. A textile-waste listing would place covered cross-border movements under Basel’s prior informed consent procedure: the exporting state must notify and importing—and, where applicable, transit—states must consent in writing before shipment begins. Documentation, bale sorting, quality specifications, contamination controls and verification of receiving facilities would consequently become more important.
The route to COP-18
At COP-17 in 2025, Parties placed used textiles and textile wastes in OEWG’s 2026–27 work programme. The group was asked to examine options for resolving the reuse–waste distinction and develop proposals for COP-18. OEWG-15, meeting in Geneva from June 23 to 26, has the Secretariat’s report on possible options before it.
The policy challenge is to stop unmanageable materials being exported under the label of reuse without disrupting genuine second-hand clothing trade and viable recycling-feedstock flows. The next commercial signal will be whether governments converge on common definitions and evidence requirements—or leave the sector subject to fragmented national restrictions.
