In the future, clothing manufacturers will be responsible for collection and disposal. This is what Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider wants to achieve with a new textile law. The SPD politician is targeting short-lived, cheap clothing. However, environmentalists criticize the planned requirements as unambitious.
Problem fast fashion
“Fast fashion clothing is only worn for a short time, but causes trouble for a long time. It floods the market, causes used clothing containers to overflow and can hardly be reused or recycled second-hand,” explained Schneider, who published key points for the new regulation. A specific draft law will follow later. It’s about clothing, clothing accessories, home textiles and shoes. Germany is thus implementing EU requirements.
Anyone who offers clothing on the German market for the first time, including importers, should be considered manufacturers. You must participate in a so-called producer responsibility organization. These organizations should take care of the collection and recycling of used textiles. They are financed by contributions from the manufacturers.
Each organization will have to achieve a collection rate of 70 percent, based on the amount of clothing that affiliated manufacturers brought onto the market in the previous year.
More and more textile waste
“Anyone who brings mass amounts of disposable clothing onto the EU market should also pay for comprehensive collection and sensible recycling,” said Schneider. This also applies to the many cheap imports from China. “The following applies: the more textiles the manufacturers bring onto the market and the lower quality the goods are, the more they have to contribute.”
German private households are producing more and more clothing and textile waste. According to the Federal Statistical Office, between 2013 and 2023 the volume increased by 55 percent to around 175,000 tons. According to this, around two kilograms of textile waste was recently produced per capita.
Environmental friendliness should be rewarded
How much manufacturers pay should also depend on how high quality the clothing is. Criteria should apply such as longevity, repairability, reusability, recyclability and the presence of hazardous substances. The more environmentally friendly a product is, the lower the amount you have to pay should be.
However, German Environmental Aid (DUH) considers this to be a toothless regulation. Viola Wohlgemuth from the DUH explained that because there are no legally defined criteria for environmental friendliness, every producer responsibility organization can come up with its own. “The result will be a merciless competition for undercutting, which is not about environmental protection, but about the cheapest way to dispose of waste.”
Environmentalists disappointed
The DUH sees Schneider’s initiative as a missed opportunity. “We have been able to collect for a long time, but without incentives for reuse and without a prevention goal, the law misses its purpose, namely to reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry,” says Wohlgemuth. “The current system, in which clothing simply ends up as waste, is thus cemented.”
The new requirements should not apply to second-hand shops, social department stores and clothing stores, provided they only accept wearable textiles that are not considered waste.
