The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) and Municipal Waste Europe (MWE) are calling for immediate financial and legislative support for recyclers amidst the deepening crisis in Europe’s textile sorting and recycling sector. In a joint statement issued by EuRIC's Textiles Re-use and Recycling Branch and MWE this week, the recycling and waste management industry associations said the current downturn in the market for used textiles was more severe than even that experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The sector is under immense pressure due to several global disruptions, including the war in Ukraine, logistical challenges in Africa, and the rise of ultra-fast fashion," they said. Together, these factors had produced both an oversupply of used textiles and a marked decline in demand from traditional export markets.
The industry groups highlighted recent decreases in waste textile exports. Shipments from the EU to third countries decreased from 464,993 tonnes in 2022 to 430,185 tonnes in 2023, according to Eurostat. At the same time, demand for recycled materials remains low, with the volume of recycled cotton produced amounting to just 319,000 tonnes annually or 1 per cent of the 24 million tonnes of virgin cotton produced each year.
With demand down, prices for second-hand textiles have plummeted, even as the costs of collection, sorting, and recycling have skyrocketed, EuRIC and MWE noted. Since spring 2024, the prices for sorted second-hand garments had no longer covered processing costs, leading to major cash flow problems for sorters. Warehouses were filling or already full, and without alternative sales outlets, the risk that textile waste would be sent for incineration is rising, according to the associations. These developments have also been documented in EUWID's bi-monthly reporting on the German waste textiles market.
EuRIC and MWE are calling on policy makers in the EU member states to lower VAT on textile repair, reuse, and recycling activities, within the existing VAT Directive framework, and explore introducing a tax on new, petroleum-based materials. Such national measures, the associations argue, would incentivise the use of recycled materials and reduce the environmental impact of virgin textile production.
Immediate measures were necessary to avoid "widespread bankruptcies" in the sector. It was not only sorters and waste textiles merchants that were struggling, Downstream players in the recycling chain, such as tearing and spinning mills, are also feeling the strain, leading to significant staff cuts, according to the joint statement. If nothing was done, processing costs for municipalities might also rise, potentially leading to increased waste disposal fees for residents, MWE and EuRIC said.
The associations say short-term financial incentives for companies contributing to the circular textile chain were needed to safeguard the industry from collapse. They are also calling for investment in recycling technologies and infrastructure, as well as targeted support for municipalities. "We urge the EU to facilitate public-private partnerships to foster innovation in textile recycling and to scale up recycling technologies," they said.
It was also important that the revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) be completed. The targeted revision of the EU's central piece of waste legislation has a narrow scope, focusing on food waste and on implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) for waste textiles. The previous legislative term ended before interinstitutional agreement could be reached on the proposal. The European Parliament's Environment Committee voted on Monday night to authorise the start of trilogue talks with representatives of the Council and Commission.
Looking to the mid-term, MWE and EuRIC believe that the EU should do more to make the European textiles reuse and recycling sector competitive. As part and parcel of that ambition, the EU needs to increase demand for recycled textiles, expand recycling capacity, and promote the use of sustainable materials through upcoming ecodesign requirements, according to the industry groups.
They also argue for the inclusion of a percentage of recycled textile content (preferably from post-consumer textiles) in all new textile products placed on the EU market. Furthermore, there should be a "clear trajectory" for increasing this percentage over time. Without urgent action, EuRIC's textile branch and MWE warn that Europe "risks undermining its climate goals and jeopardising the future of its textile sorting and recycling industry".
