The European Environment Agency
Record online shopping fueling Europe’s textile waste problem, watchdog warns
BRUSSELS: The European Environment Agency (EEA) has raised concerns about the growing textile waste problem in Europe, driven by the rise of fast fashion and online shopping. EU citizens are purchasing more clothes and textiles than ever before, with the average person buying about 19 kilograms of clothing annually but discarding up to 16 kilograms each year. This results in around 7 million metric tons of textile waste across the EU, most of which is not reused or recycled and ends up in landfills or incinerators.
The report highlights how online shopping platforms and social media are accelerating the fast fashion trend, as they offer cheap, frequently updated styles. Consumers tend to buy multiple sizes of the same item without trying them first and return what doesn’t fit, but nearly half of all returned items are ultimately destroyed rather than resold.
As the EU aims to address this issue, new regulations are being developed that will require fashion brands to pay for the processing of their products when they become waste. By 2030, the EU wants all textile products on the market to be durable, repairable, and recyclable to curb the environmental impact. Despite a reduction in raw material usage for textile production, with 234 million metric tons of raw materials consumed in 2022, the waste issue continues to grow, making textiles one of the most resource-intensive consumption categories in Europe.
