PhoeWe
Tue, 09/09/2025 – 14:42
In July 2023, the European Commission proposed a revision of the EU rules on waste, targeted at food and textile waste. Every year, almost 60 million tonnes of food waste (132 kg per person) and 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste are generated in the EU. Clothing and footwear alone account for 5.2 million tonnes of waste, equivalent to 12 kg of waste per person every year. It is estimated that less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products.
On Tuesday 9 September 2025, the European Parliament gave its final green light to new measures to prevent and reduce waste from food and textiles across the EU. Notably, the updated legislation will introduce binding food waste reduction targets and require that producers that make textiles available in the EU will have to cover costs of collecting, sorting and recycling waste textiles.
EU countries will have 20 months following the law’s entry into force to transpose the rules into national legislation. The publication is now available in the EU Official Journal.
