Circular economy and the textile industry: implementing regulations
The European Commission has implemented Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for various sectors, including packaging, batteries, and electrical and electronic equipment. Given that the EU textile industry has the fourth-largest environmental impact, a mandatory and harmonised regulation has been developed in line with the EU strategy for the circularity and sustainability of textiles.
This strategy involves ensuring that by 2030, textiles available in the EU are durable, repairable, and recyclable, promoting sustainable fashion (with the ReSet the Trend campaign), making reuse and repair services available, and holding producers accountable for their products.
The EPR system for textiles encourages producers to reduce waste and consider the circularity of their textile products by making them cover the costs of managing textile waste. The goal is to improve the sectors of textile collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling, and to increase the circularity of products. This will also create opportunities at the local level and reduce costs for consumers.
The new proposal suggests that rules will be implemented to facilitate the application of the system and promote R&D projects focused on innovative technologies, where circularity is a central element. Furthermore, the proposal addresses the issue of illegal exports by clarifying the definition of waste, in accordance with the new regulation on waste transfers.
The textile sector will also be part of the new Ecodesign Directive, the "Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation."
The current directive has been implemented since 2005 and mainly focuses on energy consumption. The new regulation establishes a new scope, covering all products except food, animal feed, live plants and microorganisms, as well as medicines and veterinary products. It is announced that textiles will be the first sector to be regulated.
The regulation aims to provide rules for all products, regardless of the geographic location of the producers. The new regulation is centred on the life cycle and life cycle analysis. Energy is no longer the only aspect considered, and requirements are implemented across the entire value chain of a product.
New tools are added to the regulation, including a clarification regarding the link between the requirement and mandatory green public procurement, the prevention of goods destruction to enhance circularity, and new tools to improve controls.
Within the same framework, the Digital Product Passport will also be implemented for products within the scope of the regulation. The Passport will provide a unique identifier for each product using existing international standards. Decentralised data storage will be employed to better defend against cyberattacks.