The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently released a report saying that Europeans are buying and discarding clothes, shoes, and linens than ever before. This is putting a lot of stress on the environment. The new data on consumption makes it clear that lawmakers, business leaders, and consumers all need to stop following the fast-fashion trend right away. This change is necessary to make better fabrics that are made to last longer and can be recycled, used again, or fixed.
The usual person in the European Union (EU) bought 19 kg of clothes, shoes, and home textiles in 2022, up from 17 kg in 2019. According to the EEA report “Circularity of the EU Textiles Value Chain in Numbers,” this much is about the same as filling a big suitcase with textiles every year.
The current method for making and buying textiles in the EU continues to put a lot of stress on the climate and environment. This includes a lot of waste, pollution from chemicals and microplastics, greenhouse gas emissions, and water and land use.
The EU’s textiles policy aims to lessen these effects and encourage circularity and sustainability in textile design, but the textile industry as a whole needs to change. During this change, the production of circular, high-quality goods that last longer and are easier to reuse, fix, or recover should be given top priority.
Online shopping, social media influencers, and the low cost of making synthetic fabrics have all helped fast fashion grow very quickly. Because of these things, stores have been able to offer new styles at reasonable prices. According to the EEA report, improvements in digital technologies like 3D printing could help cut down on production waste and ease some environmental stresses by making things run more smoothly. But these technologies may also unintentionally lead to more spending because they lower the costs and prices of making things.
Textile production and usage in the EU still have big effects on the environment. In terms of environmental and climate pressures, textile consumption is the fifth most harmful type of family spending in Europe. The other eleven types are food, transportation, housing, health care, and education. The EEA looked at these effects by looking at how much water and land were used, greenhouse gas emissions, and the use of raw materials.
Even though the average amount of textile waste collected in the EU has slowly gone up—by 4.3% points since 2016, to be exact—the total collection rates are still low. Starting in 2025, EU law will require separate collection of textile waste. This is expected to greatly increase the amount of textile waste collected from homes.
The EU sends used fabrics to other countries so they can be reused or recycled. Studies show that these textiles go through a complicated trade cycle that includes sorting, reuse, recycling, and ending up in a landfill. Some of these items are burned or thrown away in the wild, mostly in Asian and African countries. This shows how important it is for Europe to take a more environmentally friendly approach to textile use and waste handling.
