On 9 September, the European Parliament adopted legislation making Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes mandatory for textiles across the EU. This forms part of the revision of the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD), which also includes measures to reduce food waste.

What changes?

Producers placing textiles on the EU market will be responsible for the costs of:

Collection
Sorting
Recycling

This applies to:
EU-based producers
Non-EU producers
Online and e-commerce sales into the EU

Which products are in scope?

Clothing and accessories
Hats and footwear
Blankets and curtains
Bed and kitchen linen

Timeline

Some countries, including France, the Netherlands, Hungary and Latvia, already have EPR schemes in place for textiles. With the WFD revision, all EU countries must adopt the rules.

Each country has 20 months after entry into force to transpose the legislation into national law.