EU Finalises Rules to Make Fashion Pay to Clean Up Textile Waste

The European Parliament on Monday signed off on new rules that will require fashion brands to cover the full cost of their fashion waste, in a move to curb mounting textile waste across the region.

The parliamentary nod pushes the regulation over the last bureaucratic hurdle before it can be passed into law.

Once that happens, member states will be required to set up so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles within 30 months. These schemes will make producers, like brands and e-commerce platforms, financially responsible for the collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling of textile products.

Member states are expected to consider the environmental impact of fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion when determining financial contributions. That means companies whose business models rely on rapid production and turnover of low-cost garments, like Shein and Temu will potentially face higher fees.

The new rules come as efforts to establish textile recycling infrastructure in Europe is struggling to scale. ReHubs, a coalition of brands, industry trade groups and recyclers, is planning to lay out a strategy to support industrialisation of a circular textile sector in the region later this month.

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EU Moves Closer to Putting a Waste Tax on Fashion

Brands and retailers will be required to cover the costs of collecting, sorting and recycling old clothes.