Countries like France and the Netherlands have already introduced textile EPR systems. Extended Producer Responsibility obliges manufacturing and importer: inside of products in Europe, also to take responsibility for the withdrawal, transport and disposal or reprocessing of the products.
So far, a legal basis is missing in Germany, but the planned revision of the EU waste framework directive offers the opportunity to build its own extended manufacturer’s responsibility that is practical and learns from the errors of existing models.
Learn from the errors of existing models
Together with partners from textile research and the take-back system for batteries, the Textil+Mode association has launched a pilot project for a withdrawal system that is tailored to medium-sized textile and fashion manufacturers in Germany. It will run for over 16 months and should create a rating system, which takes into account the actual environmental impact and significantly expand the responsibility for manufacturers.
“We need a textile EPR system that acts ecologically and economically, is legally confident and depicts the reality of industry-especially for small and medium-sized companies. With expensive, bureaucratic system monsters, we do not bring the circular economy a piece,” commented Jonas Stracke, Head of the Textile+Mode association in a message.
The new system should not only participate financially, but actively involve the design and implementation. In addition, it should not only be based on collective quotas, but also take into account manufacturer -related parameters, environmental impacts and sustainable design when evaluating. The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) supports the development of these new goals.
The GRS service company mbH, the GRS Batteries and the Textile Research Board Foundation are also involved in the project that has been in preparation for some time, so that experiences from other waste flows – batteries, packaging and electrical appliances – can flow into the analysis.
“Our experiences from the battery area clearly show which mistakes in the introduction of a textile EPR system in Germany must be avoided. This also includes the critical examination of legally defined collective quotas,” emphasizes Julia Hobohm, Managing Director of the GRS service company mbH.
A legal regulation is urgently necessary, since voluntary clothing collecting programs of large fashion chains such as H&M, Primark, Zara and C&A often fail, as a recent investigation showed: Instead of recycling the clothes, they are exported to developing countries and disposed of there as unusable.