The European Commission’s proposal to revise the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) rightly aims at reducing food waste as well as better managing textile waste in a more circular and sustainable manner.
The proposal is a welcome step towards establishing circularity for textiles by including mandatory extended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles, incentives for the development and uptake of fibre-to-fibre recycling technologies, alignment with other EU legislation such as the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and emphasis for the need to develop end-of-waste criteria for textiles to support further recycling processes.
To allow for swifter implementation, avoid internal market fragmentation and ensure the scalability of sustainable innovation across the EU, the revision should carefully take into account the following recommendations: