YORK – Our podcast host Philip Berman sits down with Marie-Jeanne Gaertner, project and policy officer at RREUSE (Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises) to find out why the textile reuse and recycling sector in the European Union is facing an unprecedented crisis.
Gaertner says that a recent open letter to the European Commission and member states, penned by RREUSE, explains why the sector is on the brink of financial collapse, with social enterprises bearing the brunt of this turmoil.
Gaertner tells Berman that this crisis is unlike any previously encountered. RREUSE, which represents over 1,200 social enterprises across 30 countries, all dedicated to collecting, sorting, and repurposing textiles, collected approximately 337,000 tonnes of textiles in 2023 alone, but is now struggling with a growing influx of low-quality donations.
She claims that up to 16% of the textiles collected in some regions is just simply waste that cannot be used and will need to be disposed – at a financial cost.
She adds, “So now that there are more and more opportunities to resell products on a consumer-to-consumer basis, we observe that consumers tend to resell themselves the most valuable items and donate or throw out the non-reusable ones.
“And it leads us to the situation that collectors and social enterprises who collect receive more and more items but of poorer and poorer quality.”
Gaertner explains why the situation is further complicated by impending Waste Framework Directive regulations set to take effect on January 1, 2025, which mandates that all EU member states must collect textiles separately.
“For the moment, we won’t have financing mechanism to deal with these new volumes. This will be introduced later on. We are very afraid,” she notes as the EU prepares to implement these new regulations “without adequate support systems in place.”
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