MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment (ENVI) want the EU’s sustainable textiles strategy to be truly circular economy based. Adopting the own-initiative report by Delara Burkhardt (S&D, German) on Thursday 27 April (68 votes in favour, none against and one abstention), they made their recommendations to this end.
The Committee on Industry (ITRE) is the lead committee on this March 2022 strategy (rapporteur: Christian Ehler, EPP, German). The ENVI Committee recommends ambitious, legally binding measures. It believes that the responsibility for sustainable purchases should not lie with consumers alone, but that the existing linear model should be replaced by a circular, human rights friendly, non-volume-based model.
“If we let the market self-regulate, we leave the door open to a fast fashion model that exploits people and the planet’s resources”, says Burkhardt.
To combat overproduction and overconsumption, the first step should be to clearly define what constitutes ‘large volumes of low-quality clothing at low prices’, say MEPs.
They want ambitious, science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the life cycle of the textile sector. They are calling on the Commission and Member States to ensure that production processes are more energy and water efficient, avoid the use and release of harmful substances and reduce the materials footprint and consumption footprint.
They consider that ecodesign requirements for all textile products and footwear should be adopted as a matter of priority.
The report also calls for the revision of the Waste Framework Directive to include distinct, specific targets for the prevention, collection, reuse and recycling of textile waste and the phasing out of disposal in landfill. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)