Until the proposed extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for textiles fully implements, the European recycling and waste management industry groups EuRIC (European Recycling Industries’ Confederation) and FEAD (European Waste Management Association) are urging “immediate support” for the post-consumer textiles sector.
Ten “key measures” to help the business right now are suggested by the two associations in a joint position paper released in mid-March. These include tax cuts, short-term financial assistance, and investments in infrastructure to handle post-consumer textiles.
The proposed EPR, which will require the textile sector to contribute to the expenses of managing post-consumer textiles, was warmly received by EuRIC and FEAD.
EPR programs are “essential to safeguard competition in the single market and to incentivise much-needed investments in collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure for post-consumer textiles,” according to their joint position paper. However, even though the EPR incentives are “the right long-term solution” to guarantee the circularity of textiles, “they do not address the post-consumer textile sector’s immediate crisis” because member states will have 30 months from the date the legislation goes into effect to set up the programs.
The groups are requesting a short-term financial mechanism to support textile collecting, sorting, reuse preparation, and recycling activities until EPR systems are completely implemented in order to stabilise the market.
The position paper suggests an “EU emergency package” to support the industry until ERP is implemented, potentially utilising already-existing resources like the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF), which would be reimbursed by the Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) after they are up and running.
In order to increase market demand for used textiles, EuRIC and FEAD would also like to see a lower value-added tax (VAT) rate for used goods and repair services. Furthermore, they suggest imposing a tax on virgin textiles as a stopgap solution before required recycled content regulations take effect.
