Fashion Brands Engage in Textiles Waste Collection Pilot in Spain

This blog was originally posted on 4th November, 2024. Further regulatory developments may have occurred after publication. To keep up-to-date with the latest compliance news, sign up to our newsletter.

AUTHORED BY EMILIA ASSENZA, SENIOR TEAM LEADER AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE SPECIALIST, COMPLIANCE & RISKS

Introduction

A number of leading fashion brands together with the Spanish Association for the Management of Textile and Footwear Waste and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) have recently announced the creation of a voluntary textile waste collection programme in Spain, called Re-Viste.

Get an overview of Spain’s Re-Viste programme in our blog below.

Re-Viste: Textiles Waste Collection Pilot

Ahead of the EU EPR regulations – which are expected to come into force in 2026 – this pilot scheme will start in April 2025 under the supervision of FEMP and will operate in six municipalities, two urban, two rural and two semi-urban, with a total population of around 300,000 inhabitants.

To date, official stats show that in Spain, only 12% of used clothes are collected separately and 88% end up in landfill. Juan Ramón Meléndez, CEO of Re-Viste, describes the experiment as an important step in bringing together all the key players and working together to create an efficient and sustainable system to establish a correct collection of textiles and footwear, in line with regulatory challenges and society needs. It will not only facilitate textile management, but also promote a sustainable model that involves all the actors in the value chain.

The pilot project will analyze various options of textile collection in order to implement a system that can efficiently work in different contexts. Different methods will be tested, including the creation of collection points and the installation of containers in both public and private locations. Once collected, textiles will be adequately sorted for reuse, if possible, or recycling, in accordance with the waste hierarchy principles and depending on their composition.

The pilot will last one year, after which, the results will be evaluated with the aim of producing useful recommendations and guidelines for effective collection. The overall objective is to work on prevention as well, by establishing a mechanism whereby companies that sell more easily recyclable or durable textiles will pay lower rates based on the circularity/recyclability of their products. 

The project also precedes the implementation of national Law No. 7/2022 on Waste and Contaminated Soils for a Circular Economy which imposes the development of an EPR system for textiles within three years from its entry into force. According to news circulating online, a Royal Decree should be issued not earlier than spring 2025, however delays may occur to await the changes at EU level.

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