08.06.2024

Which European countries are leaders in clothing recycling?

The sight of mountains of old clothes ending up as giant landfills in low-income countries is infamously well known. This was the case in the Czech Republic until recently. The country is now leading Europe in tackling the problem, rather than contributing to it, it reports Euronews.

About 180 tons of textiles are thrown away in the Czech Republic each year, with only 000 to 3 percent ending up in mixed waste bins. 4 tons are sorted for recycling, while non-recyclables amount to 39 tons.

However, the country has a plan to revamp its current waste management practices. In December last year, the Ministry of the Environment announced plans to make textile waste collection mandatory from 2025. Currently, separate collection of textile waste is not mandatory, meaning that many discarded clothes that could be reused or recycled, end up in landfills.

Separate collection aims to bring the country into line with the European waste management directive, according to Environment Minister Petr Hladik. He emphasized that the aim is to ensure that more textiles are recycled, as well as to increase the efficiency of recycling efforts.

Currently, many textiles are still thrown into mixed waste bins, meaning they cannot be recycled. The strategy includes the creation of collection points in different municipalities to help citizens better dispose of their textile waste.

The Czech Republic has around 10 textile collection points, but the existing Waste Act only requires collection, not recycling. And the new scheme hopes to establish more collection points in accessible locations such as town halls or shops, as there are already across the country with batteries and electrical waste.

Which EU countries collect the most textile waste?

EU countries generated an estimated 6,95 million tonnes of textile waste in 2020 – that's around 16kg per person. Of this, 4,4 kg per person is collected separately for reuse and recycling, but a whopping 11,6 kg ends up in mixed household waste.

The main sources of nearly 7 million tonnes of annual textile waste in the EU are clothing and household items (post-consumer waste). An estimated 4 to 9 percent of products placed on the market are also destroyed before they are ever used – between 264 and 000 tons of textiles each year.

Separate collection of textiles is now mandatory in more than half of the EU countries, but this mainly covers reusable textiles. Luxembourg and Belgium have the highest rates of separate textile collection in the bloc, closely followed by the Netherlands and Austria. Each country has a varied collection system in villages and towns. However, none of them collect more than half of their textile waste.

The European Environment Agency says sorting and recycling capacity must be increased or a significant amount of this waste will continue to either end up in incinerators and landfills or be exported outside the EU.