FEAD, EuRIC Textiles & Decathlon publish joint position asking for effective EPR schemes in revised WFD to drive textile circularity in Europe
Brussels, 26 November – FEAD, EuRIC Textiles & Decathlon have published a joint position paper calling for effective EPR schemes and a level playing field in the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD) to strengthen Europe’s circular textile economy.
While ongoing negotiations and progress on establishing EPR schemes for waste textiles are welcomed, the signatories stress the need for consistency to maximise effectiveness. Participation from all relevant operators and uniform application of the new rules are essential to prevent loopholes that could sustain the status quo.
The WFD revision offers a unique opportunity for greater harmonisation across the EU and improved sector competitiveness, particularly as the textile sorting and recycling industry faces global challenges like the war in Ukraine, logistical issues in Africa, and the rise of ultra-fast fashion, leading to oversupply and financial pressure on waste management operations. To address these, we urge a swift agreement on the proposed WFD revision and effective EPR scheme implementation.
Key requests include ensuring full accountability and a level playing field for all relevant actors involved in the EPR scheme, setting concrete targets for waste prevention, collection, reuse and recycling, defining clear end-of-waste criteria, and distinguishing between ‘used’ and ‘waste’ textiles. It is also crucial to move quickly in the negotiations to manage growing waste before mandatory collection starts in January 2025, and to implement rigorous monitoring of EPR schemes.
FEAD, EuRIC Textiles and Decathlon urge trilogue negotiators to consider these requests and swiftly agree on the proposed targeted revision of the WFD, establishing well-functioning EPR schemes that incentivise investments in infrastructure and enhance traceability of discarded textiles. We remain committed to collaborating with policymakers to achieve Europe’s climate neutrality goals and advance sustainability and circularity in the textiles sector.
Claudia Mensi, FEAD President reminded that ‘from the 5 million tonnes of clothing that is discarded each year in the EU, only 1% is recycled back into new clothing. This means that textile recycling is today an environmental imperative and an economic opportunity, for which industry and policy makers must work together to improve the status quo’.
Julia Ettinger, EuRIC’s Secretary General stated: ‘Today, the priority is not just improving and scaling up textile sorting and recycling in Europe but also protecting and sustaining exiting infrastructure. European companies, vital to making circularity a reality, urgently need support, and effcient EPR schemes are cricital to achieving this’.
Emilie Mauffet, Decathlon’s Sustainability Director states:: ‘With the Waste Framework Directive revision, European policymakers have a unique opportunity to boost the development of an innovative and efficient textile waste industry. All actors in the textile ecosystem must work together to close the loop and go circular; smartly designed extended producer responsibility schemes can help us achieve this goal.’
Read our joint position paper here.
FEAD is the European Waste Management Association, representing the private waste and resource management industry across Europe, including 19 national waste management federations and 3,000 waste management companies. Private waste management companies operate in 60% of municipal waste markets in Europe and in 75% of industrial and commercial waste. This means more than 320,000 local jobs, fuelling €5 billion of investments into the economy every year. For more information, please contact: info@fead.be
EuRIC Textiles, as a branch of the European Recycling Industries Confederation (EuRIC), represents Europe’s textile recycling and re-use industries. EuRIC Ttextiles evaluates and provides input on the implementation of the EU’s textiles strategy, focusing on ecodesign criteria, mandatory recycled content targets, and end-of-waste criteria for textiles. Established in 2019, EuRIC Textiles advocates for the indurstries priorities as the re-use and recycling of textiles fain increasing importance at the European level. For more information, please contact Zoi DIDILI, EuRIC’s Senior Communications Advisor at zdidili@euric.org or at +32 489 094 602.
Decathlon is the world’s largest EU-based sports retailer, with integrated end-to-end worldwide operations. DECATHLON presently operates in 72 countries with more than 1800 stores and total net sales of 15.6 billion euros in 2023. We are a family-owned company founded in 1976 in France. To sustainably make the pleasure and benefit of sport accessible to the many has been the company mission since 1976. As a global designer, manufacturer and retailer, DECATHLON is fully aware of its social and environmental responsibility. Every day, we observe and listen to our users, we design products, we test, we make and we sell – BUT, every day at DECATHLON, we create waste, we use the planet’s resources, we are responsible for products travelling long distances, and we use energy. We do have an impact.. so WE ACT. Acting within a more circular economy is part of our company vision. For more information, please contact Jana Hrčková, Decathlon EU Affairs, at jana.hrckova@decathlon.com.