EU Bans Fashion Companies From Destroying Unsold Clothes

A new law two years in the making has now come into force across the European Union. This is good news because researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of tons of fashion items are needlessly destroyed every year in the EU alone at a major cost in carbon emissions.

Not so fast fashion

Major fashion retailers, wholesalers, and apparel manufacturers are now banned from trashing unsold clothing, accessories, and footwear. They must now find ways to sell the product via discounts to consumers, alternative markets, and charity donations. Under the new law, unsold product can only be destroyed if it is counterfeit, irreparably damaged, deemed unsafe, or rejected by charities. Companies must also publish reports on any discarded goods and maintain those records for a minimum of five years.

Since most modern clothing is made from man-made plastics, it takes hundreds of years to decompose in landfills. On a global scale, waste from the fashion industry is responsible for 10 percent of all carbon emissions. For perspective, that is over twice the harmful emissions of the global aviation industry. The new EU law is aiming to reduce that carbon cost.

In a recent LinkedIn post, the EEA said the bloc wanted the textile industry to become more sustainable. "A circular economy - where products are designed to last, and are reused, repaired and recycled - is no longer just a vision, but is being embedded in law through these new legislative measures," the EEA wrote.

Concerns about so-called fast fashion - low-cost, lower-quality mass-produced clothing - have grown significantly over the past decade. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), around 4 percent to 9 percent of unsold textile products are destroyed each year. This has been exacerbated by rapid growth in online shopping and returns.

Across the EU, one in five fashion goods ordered online is later returned to the retailer and not resold. Combined, this amounts to hundreds of thousands of tons of clothes, accessories and footwear.