Developing a national programme for textiles and clothing recovery

Abstract

Textiles waste is relatively small in terms of weight as compared to other waste streams, but it has a large impact on human health and environment, and its rate is increasing due to the 'fast fashion' model. In this paper, we examine the French national programme for managing post-consumer textiles and clothing through a case study research. To date, France is the only country in the world implementing an extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy for end-of-use clothing, linen and shoes. The case highlights the benefits of using an EPR policy and provides interesting insights about the challenges faced by the textiles waste sector. For instance, the EPR policy has contributed to a threefold increase in the collection and recycling rates of post-consumer textiles since 2006. In addition, the material recovery rate of the post-consumer textiles can reach 90%, 50% of which can be directly reused. However, the 'reuse' stream is facing some challenges because its main market is in Africa and many African countries are considering banning the import of used textiles to encourage a competitive textiles industry locally and internationally. The EPR policy shows a great potential to identify new markets for 'reuse' and to improve the textiles waste sector. Such an EPR policy also could drive societies to financially support innovation and research to provide feasible solutions for fashion producers to adopt eco-design and design for recycling practices. This paper provides guidance for policy makers, shareholders, researchers and practitioners interested in diverting post-consumer textiles and clothing waste from landfills and promoting circular textiles transition.

How fashion can achieve sustainable development through a circular economy and stakeholder engagement: A systematic literature review

“…• Closing resource loops: this cluster includes CF practices implemented with an aim to keep materials in the economy, Closed-loop recycling, a process where unwanted resources and products are collected, recycled, and then used again to make the same product it came from, and thus to create a circular flow of resources • Recycling for manufacturing a same product type (e.g., recycling polyester fabrics to polyester yarn for the same fashion item production) 42 (44.7%) Al Faruque et al, 2019;Bloomfield & Borstrock, 2018;Bocken et al, 2017;Bukhari et al, 2018;Cattermole, 2018;Corvellec & Stål, 2019;Daddi et al, 2019;do Amaral et al, 2018;Earley, 2017;Earley, 2019;Fischer & Pascucci, 2017;Franco, 2017;Goldsworthy & Ellams, 2019;Haslinger et al, 2019;Holtström et al, 2019;Hu et al, 2018;Hussain, 2018;Hvass & Pedersen, 2019;Karell & Niinimäki, 2019;Koszewska, 2018;Leal Filho et al, 2019;Määttänen et al, 2019;…”

“…• Mending clothing • Donating used clothing for second-hand usage 22 (23.4%) Bukhari et al, 2018;Camacho-Otero et al, 2019;Cattermole, 2018;Diddi & Yan, 2019;Fischer & Pascucci, 2017;Holtström et al, 2019;Hussain, 2018;Hvass & Pedersen, 2019;Kjaer et al, 2019;Koszewska, 2018;Machado et al, 2019;Magdalena & Dagna, 2019;Norris, 2019a;Pal et al, 2019;Pedersen et al, 2019;Popescu, 2018;Raebild & Bang, 2017;Sandin & Peters, 2018;Shaw & Williams, 2018;Smith et al, 2017;Staicu & Pop, 2018;Tunn et al, 2019 Narrowing resource flows (18, 19.1%) CF practices related to increasing resource efficiency, by using fewer resources per product…”

Attitudes of Young European Consumers Toward Recycling Campaigns of Textile Companies

“…As a comparison, similar answer was given by only about 25% of Polish students. Such disparity might be caused by probably more intensive marketing communication of fashion brands in France promoting returning used textiles to the shops, resulting from the adoption of extended producer responsibility as the first European country [25]. The second question surveyed the willingness of participation in a recycling campaign.…”

“…In psychology, the environmentally friendly attitudes are investigated in association with core personality traits or values, trying to identify the individual features which could predict the pro-environmental behaviors [24]. Research results show that personality traits are a source of individual differences in environmental concern, agreeableness, and openness being the most highly associated with pro-environmental attitudes [25,26].…”

Recycling and Importance for Textile Industry

“…Endüstriyel boyutta ise Uşak ili geri dönüşüm sektöründe ülkemizde önemli rol oynamaktadır [28]-[29].İlk kez 2007 yılında Fransa'da, tekstil üreticilerini bir araya getirmeyi amaçlayan ve geri kazanılmak üzere giysi, astar, kumaş, ayakkabı vb. parçaları toplamayı amaçlayan bir yasal politika ortaya koyulmuştur[30].Türkiye'de ise tekstil üretim atığı oldukça fazladır. Bu nedenle geri kazanım faaliyetleri daha çok üretim atıklarının toplanması ve geri kazanımı üzerine yoğunlaşmıştır.…”