IThere is a need to stop the export of our textile waste problems to developing countries. This is why we, the Danish, Swedish and French environment ministers, are today proposing new global rules for the export of textile waste as part of the Basel convention.
So many clothes have never been sold in the world. With more than 100 billion new items of clothing sold each year, according to a report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, this growth is accompanied by significant environmental challenges. The textile sector ranks among the most harmful sectors for the environment in the European Union.
Indeed, the production of textiles consumes large quantities of energy, water and chemicals. As for the use phase of textiles, it is also a source of pollution, in particular because of the release of increasing quantities of microplastics into nature. Finally, the textile sector contributes significantly to climate change, since it represents 8% of global greenhouse gas emissionsas much as air or sea transport.
Making the textile sector more sustainable
Over the past twenty years, theEuropean exports of used textiles have tripled. In 2019 alone, 1.7 million tonnes of used textiles were exported outside the European Union, according to a European Environment Agency report from February 2023, mainly to countries in Africa and in Asia which do not have appropriate waste management capacities.
This poorly managed textile waste therefore often ends up in landfills or in nature, where it causes harm to humans, animals and the environment. It is urgent to take action. In each of our respective countries, we have implemented national policies aimed at making the textile sector more sustainable.
At the European level, the directive currently being adopted on the duty of vigilance of companies in matters of sustainable development provides a first response to these challenges. This directive sets obligations for large companies, including in the textile sector, regarding the actual and potential impacts on human rights and the environment of the entire value chain of their activities.
Textiles modeled on electronic waste
With our European colleagues, we are also working on revising the Waste Framework Directive to strengthen the treatment and recycling of textile waste within the European Union. However, at the global level, the import and export of waste is regulated by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
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