The European Parliament has joined the Council in signing off on the revised EU Waste Framework Directive, which introduces new rules on textiles and food waste. Following the Tuesday vote, the Directive will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the EU Official Journal, which is expected within the next few weeks.
Member states will have 20 months to transpose the legislation's targeted amendments into national law. Within 30 months of entry into force, the member states will have to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes for certain textile products. Under the new systems, businesses producing clothing and accessories, hats, shoes and household textiles will be responsible for the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling these products at end of life.
Member states are free to include mattresses in the financing scheme if they wish. They are also permitted to require producer responsibility organisations (PROs) to adjust their fee levels to reflect the durability of products as a means of combating fast fashion and ultra-fast fashion. The use of "eco-modulation" is also intended to encourage the use of recycled fibres in new textile products.
Producer responsibility from early 2028
Since the start of 2025, separate collection of waste textiles has been mandatory across the EU. While the measure is expected to increase collection volumes, it comes at a time when the waste textiles market is in deep crisis. The quality of original collected stock is falling and demand for second-hand clothing is declining both within the EU and in export markets. This downturn is closely tied to the growing availability of cheap new clothing.
Against this backdrop, reuse and recycling industry associations had pressed for swift adoption of the Directive. If the legislation is published in the EU Official Journal in early October, the implementation deadline for EPR will not arrive until April 2028. Micro-enterprises have been granted a grace period and will have an additional year before being subject to EPR obligations.
The total volume of EU textile waste arisings is estimated at 12.6 million tonnes per year. Clothes and shoes account for 5.2 million tonnes, or around 12 kilogrammes per person and year. Some separately collected textiles are sold for reuse, but the size of this share is declining. Other fractions are cut into wiper rags or recycled into fibres for insulation mats and similar products. Globally, less than 1 per cent of waste textiles are processed back into fibres for new textiles.
Binding target for food waste prevention
The revised Directive also introduces binding food waste reduction targets. By 2030, member states must cut waste from manufacturing and processing by 10 per cent and achieve a 30 per cent reduction per capita from retail, restaurants, food services and households, relative to the average annual volumes from the period 2021 to 2023.
Total food waste across all sectors in the EU is estimated at almost 60 million tonnes a year, the equivalent of 132 kilogrammes per person.
