Against fast fashion and waste, agreement on the revision of the Waste Directive
On 17 June the Council of the European Union announced its “general orientation” on the revision of the Framework Directive which intervenes in particular on textile and food waste. The position of the government representatives is in line with the Commission’s initial proposal. A less ambitious approach than that of the European Parliament which had proposed more challenging waste reduction targets. Now the debate can restart with the new Parliament that emerged from the recent elections.
Food waste: the targets for 2030
The Council approves the binding food waste reduction targets proposed by the European Commission. Objectives to be achieved by 2030. Namely: – 10% in transformation and manufacturing; – 30% per capita in retail, restaurants, food services and households. The Council’s orientation also provides for the possibility of setting, by the end of 2027, a specific objective for the reduction of waste from edible foods. Last March, the European Parliament had instead proposed a 20% reduction in the processing and manufacturing sector and 40% in retail trade, catering and family consumption.
2020 was the first year in which data on food sector waste was collected in a harmonized manner. For this reason, in the Commission text it is the reference year for calculating the progress of the Member States. On this point, the Council favors a more flexible approach. In essence, Member States would be authorized to also take previous years as a reference, provided that adequate data collection methods were already in place. But also subsequent years (until 2023) to avoid a distorted representation of real trends due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, the Council asks to take into consideration any “correction factors” such as tourist flows and production levels in the processing and manufacturing of food products in the year chosen as reference.
Textile waste: heavier burdens for fast fashion brands
As regards textile waste, the most important innovation envisaged by the revision of the Directive concerns the introduction of harmonized waste management regimes. extended producer responsibility. This is a system that is already operational for other waste, such as packaging waste or lead batteries. In simple words, fashion brands and textile producers are burdened with part of the costs necessary for the collection and treatment of textile waste. The Council of the EU calls for making EPR systems mandatory (Extended producer responsibility) within 30 months of the entry into force of the directive. Parliament had instead proposed 18 months.
According to the Council’s orientation, micro-enterprises should also be included in the obligations of the EPR regimes. And, above all, higher tariffs must be imposed on companies that follow industrial and commercial practices that fall within the so-called fast fashion, the “disposable” fashion that has a devastating impact on the environment (and is often based on labor exploitation practices ). More generally, the tariffs paid by producers should be “eco-modulated”, i.e. take into consideration the circularity and environmental performance of textile products.
Textile and food waste: Italian and European data
According to Eurostat data processed by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, almost 59 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year in Europe. On average 131 kilograms per inhabitant (but in Italy we are at 145 kg). A waste responsible for 16% of total greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a loss of 132 billion euros.
The continent’s textile waste amounts to 12.6 million tonnes per year, of which only 22% is collected and sent for recycling. In Italy, ISPRA has certified, for 2022, 160 thousand tonnes of textile waste per year, a figure which is roughly equivalent to 500 thousand clothes, for a per capita waste of 2.7 kilograms. Unfortunately, this figure is growing. The objective of the European proposal to revise the Waste Framework Directive is precisely to reduce the environmental and climate impacts caused by the production and management of textile and food waste.
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