Re-Use Austria
RepaNet recently launched the website sachspenden.at together with initiator partner Tchibo. The aim is to increase the quality and quantity of textiles donated to non-profit organizations. In view of the flooding of the market with short-lived fast fashion, imminent legal changes offer the opportunity to create ecologically and socially sustainable conditions in the value chain of textiles.
The effects of fast fashion start with production and run through the entire value chain. Consumption of large amounts of raw materials, cheap production and processing, harmful effects on the environment, poor working conditions and a lack of security for people working in the textile industry are unfortunately the norm when we look at fast fashion. The fact that a T-shirt can be had for a few euros has a very large hidden price.
But there is another way. More and more brands are focusing on sustainability and are consistently converting their production because they are no longer willing to be players in a short-sighted and profit-oriented system. Patagonia and Nudie Jeans are two examples of companies that produce in a socially and ecologically sustainable manner and successfully incorporate repair and reuse into their own business model.
sachspenden.at: The platform for sustainable & social clothing collection
Reuse is also the goal when an item of clothing ends up in a clothes container. With the support of initiator partner Tchibo, RepaNet opens those containers and drop-off points where the clothing donation really has a social purpose sachspender.at visible. The social economy organizations listed there achieve the highest possible re-use quota in Germany, they create fair jobs for the disadvantaged and use the proceeds (after deducting their own costs) for charitable projects. To do this, however, they need really well-preserved clothing.
The reuse of clothing is made more difficult by the negative excesses of fast fashion, the lack of quality is particularly important here: Many tons of textiles are not suitable for reuse; neither in Germany - where quality standards are particularly high - nor abroad. The organizations of sachspenden.at currently manage to sell 10,5% of the collected goods domestically in their own re-use shops. But this quota could be higher if the original product were better.
Politicians must act now
The new EU textile strategy offers hope here. The EU Commission announced its creation in the Circular Economy Action Plan and there is already valuable input from 65 European civil society organizations. One of many relevant points is the introduction of an extended producer responsibility (EPR system), which would oblige textile importers to co-finance the end of life management. The contributions could be used to finance the preparation for reuse - because this is circular economy "at its best". Textile recycling, on the other hand, has only developed rudimentary and currently, unfortunately, mostly a "downcycling" with a considerable loss of material value. In contrast, the product value is retained when re-using. But for this you need high quality raw materials. Here we come full circle - a look at the end of the value chain leads us back to its beginning.
What does this mean for the future? In the EU, we are facing a mandatory nationwide collection of textiles from 2025. Currently in Austria around 70.000 tons of textiles end up in the residual waste every year. In future, the Austrian state has to guarantee a functioning collection that supports the existing systems. It is important to strengthen the role of the socio-economic collectors, who have always specialized in re-use with the slowest possible cycles and at the same time create considerable social added value.
What to do with textiles that are only suitable for recycling? - We should also be able to answer this question clearly from 2025. A joint collection for re-use and recycling would overload the existing systems by multiplying the amount: textiles that now end up in the residual waste would then be found in a single collection and would have to be even more laborious than previously from the well-preserved ones for Re -Use appropriate pieces to be separated. On the other hand, a dense network of a double-track collection system (one container for re-use, one for recycling) would offer ideal conditions for re-use companies as well as recycling companies in order to utilize the received goods sensibly and with the lowest possible losses.
To the RepaNet topic page textile collection and recycling
Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash
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