EPR IN EUROPE: EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY FOR TEXTILES FROM 2025
The introduction of the EPR directive for the textile and footwear sector, planned in the European Union from 2025, will require companies to adopt more circular and traceable models, finding concrete solutions to the challenges of sustainability. The subject will be discussed at the next edition of Ecomondo, taking place in Rimini from the 4th to the 7th of November.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a cornerstone of European environmental policy. Under this principle, with a view to the efficient recovery of raw materials, producers (as well as those who first place a product on the market in a European country, such as e-commerce sites and marketplaces) are held responsible for their products from start to finish. From the moment they are designed to when they become waste, to be fed back into a circular economy process.
EPR DIRECTIVES: WHAT’S NEW IN 2025
EPR systems were first introduced in Europe in the 1990s, starting with the packaging and packaging waste sector through the landmark Directive 94/62/EC, a milestone for sustainability, as it was the first act to harmonise national measures. Since then, the framework has evolved and been updated several times, extending to an increasing number of sectors.
Among the developments for 2025 is the publication in the Official Journal of the EU of the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which will come into force in mid-2026 following an 18-month transitional period. This Regulation brings important changes, for the first time requiring member states to meet binding waste prevention targets (5% by 2030, 10% by 2035, and 15% by 2040 compared to 2018), whereas previously only recycling targets, or targets for waste sent for recycling, had been set.
As for EPR relating to end-of-life batteries and accumulators, under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, from the 18th of February 2025, electric vehicle batteries, rechargeable industrial batteries with a capacity exceeding 2 kWh, and batteries for light means of transport must be accompanied by a carbon footprint declaration, which will also need to include various other details such as the model and manufacturer.
TEXTILE WASTE, EPR, AND SEPARATE COLLECTION
The most significant development in 2025 concerns the textile sector. The EU generates around 12.6 million tonnes of this kind of waste every year, of which 5.2 million tonnes come from clothing and footwear. These amount to 12 kg per person, according to figures released by the Council of the European Union.
To increase circularity and sustainability in the sector and to curb the dynamics of fast fashion, a provisional agreement on the targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive was reached in February 2025. Under this, harmonised rules on the EPR scheme for textile industries and fashion brands have been established, requiring them to pay a fee to help finance the collection and treatment of waste, based on how circular and sustainable their product design is.
The agreement must still be approved by the Council and the European Parliament before the formal adoption procedure can take place. The directive will come into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU, after which member states will have 20 months to update their national legislation to comply with the new rules, with an additional year’s period for micro-enterprises.
This, however, is not the only new development for Europe’s textile sector in 2025. From the 1st of January, the separate collection of this kind of waste has become mandatory in all EU countries. Italy took the lead early, becoming the first country to introduce the requirement back in January 2022. Yet according to estimates from ISPRA (the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), only 20% of textile waste is currently being collected.
THE TEXTILE FRACTION OF MUNICIPAL WASTE IN ITALY
“In Italy, separate collection and the recovery of the textile fraction of municipal waste had already developed in capacity, expertise, and results well before the introduction of any obligation,” explains Andrea Fluttero, member of the Ecomondo Scientific Committee. “For years, social cooperatives specialising in collection and sorting companies have been working to steadily increase the quantities collected, while developing industrial capacity for sorting, preparing for re-use, re-use, and recycling of these collections.”
In 2024, more than 180,000 tonnes of this type of waste were collected. “I see estimates in circulation suggesting very high volumes placed on the market, along with calls to increase the collection. But a word of caution: the data on the quantities placed on the market, against which collection targets and new infrastructure should be planned, will only become solid once EPR systems are in place and producers are obliged to declare what they put on the market,” warns Fluttero. “What’s more, there are already worrying signs of saturation in market outlets. Increasing collections without first securing additional outlets would risk paralysing the system, with potentially disastrous consequences, as we’ve seen in the recent past with plastic packaging.”
THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
How, then, can this transformation be approached? First and foremost, we need to “curb the influx of poor-quality products onto the European market, typical of fast fashion, which have a short lifespan and are difficult to reuse or recycle. Furthermore, before pushing to increase collection volumes, it is crucial to create outlets for that which cannot be reused. At present, this fraction, which accounts for around 50% of collections, is typically destined for the production of rags, padding, and sound-absorbing materials, but these outlets do not actually close the loop of a circular model and are not unlimited."
In addition, “it will be necessary to improve the quality of products placed on the market and, downstream, the sorting and preparation for reuse, implementing the disassembly of garments and the industrial capacity for high-quality recycling, which is currently almost non-existent for significant technical and economic reasons.”
Lastly, Fluttero highlights, "I'd like to stress how important it is to harmonise EPR regulations as much as possible, which each country will define when they transpose the next amendment to Directive 2008/98. Otherwise, we could find ourselves with Italian sorting and preparation facilities for reuse saturated by the waste collected in other countries and with our own collections sidelined, without buyers and destined, after all the effort of collecting them, for energy recovery."
TEXTILE EPR: SEE YOU AT ECOMONDO 2025
The Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for the textile sector will be a key topic at Ecomondo, scheduled to take place in Rimini from the 4th to the 7th of November 2025. Two main events are planned:
- On the 5th of November, as part of the seminar “Textile EPR: consortia ready to go, awaiting a clear regulatory framework”, EconomiaCircolare.com will take stock of the current situation with a representative from the European Commission and will give a platform to consortia that were formed in anticipation of the EPR system’s launch.
- On the 7th of November, the event “From EPR obligation to strategic opportunities: technologies and success stories for sustainable textiles”, organised by Consorzio Rematrix, will take place.