The European Union is preparing fast fashion companies to address the significant issue of garment waste ending up in landfills. At a warehouse on the outskirts of Barcelona, women have been tasked with manually sorting large bales of used clothing to tackle this problem. Prominent fast fashion brands such as Moda Re, Inditex (owner of Zara), H&M, Adidas, and Puma have committed to investments in garment sorting and recycling. Inditex, in particular, plans to invest € 3.5 million in Moda Re to establish recycling containers in all Spanish stores.
Within a year, Moda Re, which already runs a garment re-use and recycling charity, plans to double the volume it handles to 40,000 metric tons annually at the sorting center.
“This is just the beginning,” said Albert Alberich, director of Moda Re, which is also part of Spanish charity Caritas and runs Spain’s biggest second-hand clothing chain. “Increasingly we are going to turn used clothes into raw material from Europe for fashion companies.”
Aligning with new EU measures, Moda Re and Inditex are expanding their facilities in Spain, in sites like Barcelona, Bilbao, and Valencia to enhance garment sorting and recycling capacities. Meanwhile, H&M, Mango, and Inditex have formed a non-profit association in Spain to manage clothing waste, in compliance with an EU law effective from January 2025, requiring the separation of textiles from other waste. Puma had partnered with sorting companies like Texaid (Switzerland) and Vestisolidale (Italy). Adidas and Bestseller have also invested in Finnish start-up – Infinited Fiber Company, which manufactures fibre out of textile waste, cardboard and paper.
European manufacturers and analysts attribute this towering challenge of garment waste to overproduction and overconsumption. According to a McKinsey report, an investment ranging from € 6 to € 7 billion will be required by 2030 to achieve the level of textile waste processing and recycling targeted by the EU. Fortunately, numerous European companies are joining forces to invest in recycling initiatives and advanced technologies, which is a positive step forward in addressing this challenge.
