Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is seen as the key to financing the collection and disposal of used textiles, as well as mandatory requirements for sustainable textiles in the EU’s new Ecodesign Directive. This will enable better material separation and sorting for an optimised circular economy. Equally important are sensible legal guidelines for the use of secondary materials. Current solutions for a functioning circular economy for textiles, for example, could be 20% less plastic, sophisticated recycling and the increased use of recyclates in the manufacture of plastic products. Experts from the Oeko-Institut discussed these and other topics with external specialists in the digital forums of the Oeko-Institut’s ‘Circular Economy’ science forum.

Freiburg, September 26th, 2024. 94 per cent of fossil raw materials form the basis of current plastics. Andreas Manhart, Senior Researcher at the Öko-Institut, emphasises that a clear hierarchy is needed for a circular economy. Firstly, plastic and raw material consumption must be significantly reduced. Reuse and different recycling processes are the next steps. Only at the end of this value chain should carbon compounds be captured and the use of biogenic raw materials be promoted. „In the long term, we need to move away from one-off recycling towards a circular economy in which products are used for as long as possible before being recycled as efficiently and to the highest possible quality in various process steps and procedures,“ says Manhart, summarising the challenges for a circular economy for plastics.

Johannes Klinge emphasises in the forum that urban mining, the deconstruction of used materials into consumer goods, must be promoted. „Overall, urban mining must be sensibly integrated into the circular economy,“ emphasises Dr Johannes Klinge, raw materials expert at the Öko-Institut. „This includes reducing the overall use of raw materials, for example through repair and increased reuse.“

12 million tonnes (mt) of textiles that come onto the market every year, around eight million tonnes end up in landfill or are incinerated. 16kg per person per year. That’s enough to discuss in the Textile Forum. The experts call for sustainable design, durability, reparability and reuse. More customised business models are needed. Furthermore, the establishment and expansion of infrastructures such as collection and recycling systems for used textiles worldwide. Experts from Ghana, India, Colombia and Latvia reported on circular economy measures. The discussion centred on topics such as financing the development of corresponding infrastructures, mutual learning and the development of technical and personnel capacities. All around topics in which the EU should support these countries in the opinion of the experts.

„We need clear targets for reuse and a strong EU-wide consensus on requirements for manufacturers to collect and recycle textiles, extended producer responsibility, as well as a fee system that co-finances the waste management of exported used textiles in non-European countries,“ says Clara Löw, a researcher specialising in the circular economy at the Oeko-Institut.

A half-day conference in Berlin will conclude the science forum and provide a platform for dialogue on positive visions for the future and the necessary framework conditions for implementing the circular economy. Together with stakeholders from science, business, politics and civil society, the Oeko-Institut will discuss how the circular economy can establish itself as a viable business model, what justice issues need to be resolved for structural change and how citizens and politicians can shape the transformation together.

Information on the Oeko-Institut’s Circular Economy Science Forum including programme and registration for the final forum on 5.11.2024 in Berlin [https://www.oeko.de/wissenschaftsforum2024]

Further Information:

https://www.oeko.de/wissenschaftsforum2024/#c19932 Zur Dokumentation aller Diskussionsbeiträge im Forum „Kunststoffe“
https://www.oeko.de/wissenschaftsforum2024/#c19938 Zur Dokumentation aller Diskussionsbeiträge im Forum „Urban Mining“
https://www.oeko.de/wissenschaftsforum2024/#c19941 Zur Dokumentation aller Diskussionsbeiträge im Forum „Textilien“

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