Towards a European Textile Strategy: Part 2 – Mapping the Volumes and Growth Prospects of the Main Textile Market Segments
Regularly, our Secretary General Lutz Walter shares his insights and knowledge through his blogposts, covering a wide range of topics related to textile sustainability and innovation. Follow his blog to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that the textile industry is facing today.
" Currently, only about 20-25% of textile waste is collected separately in the EU. The remaining 75-80% is lost to incineration or landfill. With mandatory collection coming into force, those volumes may go up over time and may double by 2035. sucHowever, investors in recycling infrastructure must be careful: this "growth" is just a shift in the waste stream, not an increase in the total amount of available material. And as the product composition (complex blends) and the spectrum of use cases (re-use locally & abroad, repurposing to wipes, tearing for nonwovens etc) will remain reality, available volumes suitable for recycling may still grow slowly. Building business cases on the assumption of ever-growing waste piles is a recipe for stranded assets."
In his latest blog post, our Secretary General Lutz Walter dismantles the myth that EU textile consumption is on an endless upward trajectory. Drawing on 15 years of data, he argues that the European market has been largely stagnant, and will remain so, with demographics, rising costs and the booming second-hand market all acting as headwinds.
