The New EU Strategy For Sustainable And Circular Textiles Aims To Create A Greener, More Competitive Textiles Sector
In clothes and furniture, medical and protective equipment, buildings and vehicles, textiles are the fabric of everyday life. European consumption of textiles has the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate change, after food, housing and mobility. It is he third sector for higher use of water and land use, and fifth for the use of primary raw materials and greenhouse gas emissions.
The average European throws away 11kg of textiles every year. Around the world, a truckload of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every single second. Global textiles production almost doubled between 2000 and 2015, and the consumption of clothing and footwear is expected to increase by 63% by 2030. In parallel with this relentless expansion, negative impacts on resources, water, energy consumption, and the climate continue to grow. The need to address the production and consumption of textiles is now more urgent than ever before.
The textile sectors employs over 1.5 million people in over 160 000 companies, with a turnover of €162 billion in 2019. Composed essentially of small and medium-size enterprises, the textiles ecosystem needs to be accompanied to foster its post Covid-19 recovery and to strengthen its resilience and increase its attractiveness to a talented and skilled workforce. Europe has always been and should remain home to innovative brands, creativity, know-how and quality textile products.
The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles presents a new approach, achieve these objectives in a harmonised manner. The Strategy implements commitments made under the European Green Deal, the new Circular Economy Action Plan and the Industrial Strategy, and aims to create a greener, more competitive and more modern sector, more resistant to global shocks.
Objectives
The strategy aims to create a greener, more competitive sector that is more resistant to global shocks. The Commission's 2030 Vision for Textiles is that
all textile products placed on the EU market are durable, repairable and recyclable, to a great extent made of recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances, produced in respect of social rights and the environment
”fast fashion is out of fashion” and consumers benefit longer from high quality affordable textiles
profitable re-use and repair services widely available
the textiles sector is competitive, resilient and innovative with producers taking responsibility for their products along the value chain with sufficient capacities for recycling and minimal incineration and landfilling
Actions
The Strategy lays out a forward-looking set of actions. The Commission will
set design requirements for textiles to make them last longer, easier to repair and recycle
introduce clearer information on textiles and a digital product passport
empower consumers and tackle greenwashing by ensuring the accuracy of companies’ green claims
stop overproduction and overconsumption, and discourage the destruction of unsold or returned textiles
harmonise EU Extender Producer Responsibility rules for textiles and economic incentives to make products more sustainable
address the unintentional release of microplastics from synthetic textiles
address the challenges from the export of textile waste adopt an EU Toolbox against counterfeiting by 2023
publish a transition pathway by the end of 2022 - an action plan for actors in the textiles ecosystem to successfully achieve the green and digital transitions and increase its resilience
