Stricter Requirements On Circular Management Of Textiles And Textile Waste

• Published date: 13 November 2023
• Subject Matter: Environment, Environmental Law, Waste Management
• Law Firm: Lindahl
• Author: Erika Skold and Johanna Lindqvist

Nowadays, the textile and fashion industry is a resource-intensive, polluting industry with considerable impact on the environment and health throughout the textile value chain. The fashion industry accounts for up to ten per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and almost 92 million tonnes of waste a year is generated in clothing production. From a global perspective, textiles and textile waste are the fourth largest cause of the negative impact on the environment and the climate. In this article, Lindahl's environmental law experts review EU legislation in the area of textiles and describe how Sweden plans to implement legislative changes in order to meet the requirements of EU law

The greatest negative impact on the environment and the climate occurs at all stages of production because production requires raw materials, water, energy and chemicals and causes emissions to air, soil and water. Despite greater awareness of the environmental impact of the textile and fashion industry, the industry continues to grow. This is partly due to the growth of "fast fashion", which is based on cheap manufacturing, repeat consumption and short-lived use of garments. Since garments are usually ordered online and imported from a third country directly by the consumer, it is a relatively simple matter for companies to conceal any failure to comply with EU rules on aspects such as the use of chemicals.

According to the European Environment Agency, more than five million tonnes of textile waste are generated in Europe every year. Around a fifth of the material is collected for some form of reuse, recycling for upholstery, insulation or for export to other countries. The rest ends up in household waste, which means that it either ends up in landfill or is incinerated.

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EU MEASURES FOR SUSTAINABLE TEXTILES AND REDUCED QUANTITIES OF TEXTILE WASTE

The impact of textiles and textile waste on the environment is a highly prioritised issue within the EU and a series of proposals and action plans have been put forward in recent years. The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles aims to ensure that by 2030, textile products placed on the EU market will be long-lived, recyclable and manufactured as far as possible from recycled fibres, free from hazardous substances and in line with the EU's climate-neutrality goals for 2050. The European Commission has proposed a series of packages of measures to accelerate the transition to a circular economy within the framework of...