Every year, the used clothing and textiles recycling industry is confronted with two distinct types of challenge: first, the day-to-day issues that undermine the efficiency of our companies’ operations; and second, the more strategic problems that, in many cases, have existed for years but remain largely intractable.

In terms of daily business challenges, the most notable in 2021 concerned the ongoing shipping crisis brought about principally by the COVID pandemic, with a lack of container availability leading to soaring costs and regular delays throughout last year. The costs of obtaining containers for exporting out of Europe have more than doubled and shipments that would normally be completed in a matter of weeks are now, in many instances, taking months. Thus, the practicalities of trading have become increasingly difficult and profit margins are being squeezed.

As for the more underlying challenges facing our sector, one of these was discussed in detail at our divisional webinar in November last year – namely, ill-informed media coverage of what happens to exported used clothing in destination markets. So often, articles in the press and online are not properly researched or reflect a lack of understanding on the part of the journalist or writer. For our industry, such misinformation always comes as a regrettable and time-consuming distraction

The used clothing and textiles recycling industry generates major environmental benefits in the form of reducing not only greenhouse gas emissions but also water/air pollution and resource consumption.

And yet in 2021, there was constant repetition of claims about clothing sent to Ghana which were based on research that was neither published nor peer-reviewed. The coverage centred on what seems to be a local issue; the journalists did not seek out the real truth and had failed to understand or consider the potentially much wider negative consequences of what they were saying.

As noted at our webinar, international trade creates social benefits too, including the promotion of gender equality in Africa where the second-hand clothing sector has provided major opportunities for female entrepreneurs.

Positive steps are now being taken by industry stakeholders from Europe and North America to highlight not only what good practice looks like but also the very real environmental, social and economic benefits delivered by our sector. Various collaborative actions were initiated in 2021 and, by the end of 2022, we intend to be in a position to provide robust research and evidence that showcase
our industry’s important work.

Another area in which activities will gather yet more momentum in 2022 concerns changes to government policies to promote the sustainability of fashion. Expansion of extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes into different countries will bring both challenges and opportunities. On January 1 2022, Sweden became the second country in the world to introduce EPR on clothing. In the UK, meanwhile, its Parliament passed key primary legislation in 2021 also aimed at EPR for clothing, with the government committing to the completion of a consultation exercise on the introduction of such a scheme by the end of this year. Furthermore, the Dutch government has made a commitment to introduce EPR on clothing in 2023 while overtures to establishing similar schemes have been heard elsewhere in Europe and beyond.

The ongoing development of the EU Textiles Strategy is also expected to have a significant impact on our sector. With greater emphasis on improving the circularity of the fashion industry, we can expect to see more stakeholders moving into this field and retailers taking greater interest in what happens to the clothing they put on the market. Undoubtedly, there will be increased interest among retailers and brands in producing garments from “sustainable” raw materials, such as recycled fibres.

But while this is a welcome development in principle, we need to be very careful to ensure that good-quality reusable clothing is not unnecessarily dragged down the waste hierarchy and sent for recycling. Reuse of clothing, wherever that demand is to be found, is better than needlessly sending those same items for recycling. We need to ensure that the EU understands this fundamental truth and that it avoids the introduction of any measures which would adversely affect steps to address climate change, impair United Nations sustainable development goals or contravene the waste hierarchy.