The European Waste Management Association (FEAD) welcomed key aspects of the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. The umbrella organization said it strongly supports the introduction of binding product-specific eco-design requirements to increase textiles performance in terms of durability, reusability, reparability, fiber-to-fiber recyclability, and the introduction of mandatory recycled fiber content.
The main aim of the Textile Strategy is to create a coherent framework and a vision for the transition of the textiles sector by 2030. FEAD strongly supports the introduction of binding product-specific eco-design requirements to increase textile performance in terms of durability, reusability, reparability, fiber-to-fiber recyclability, and the introduction of mandatory recycled fiber content. The introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements with eco-modulation of fees as part of the forthcoming revision of the Waste Framework Directive in 2023 would also help to incentivize the separate collection, sorting, reuse, preparation for reuse and recycling of textile waste, which needs to be further developed.
Textile-to-textile recycling is a key strategy for saving resources in this sector, preserving the value of materials, and fostering a circular economy. Developing a market and qualitative initial products are essential. The current global trend for “fast fashion”, with overabundant, very low-quality textiles production, is a big hurdle to more recycling that needs to be tackled at the EU level.
