NGO recommendations for the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles
The EU textile industry expects major changes with the adoption of the EU strategy for sustainable textiles by the end of 2021. Non-governmental organizations had the opportunity to express their views on the strategy. The Campaign #Wardrobe Change, where HEJSupport is a member, launched its position paper “Recommendations for the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles” which is inter alia calling on the European Commission to set requirements on the restriction, testing, and disclosure of chemicals of concern in final products.
The main demands are:
+ Make sustainable textile products the norm through high minimum design standards, better production processes, traceability, transparency, and information disclosure, and banning the destruction of unsold and returned goods.
+ Drive resource-sufficient textile consumption with rules on what reliable green claims can be made on products, harmonized labeling, and better information on the expected lifetime and repairability of a product.
+ Leave the linear business model behind by taxing virgin resource use and making producers responsible for the products they put on the market from cradle to grave.
+ Hold the EU textile industry accountable for its role in the world through a trade reset and strong human rights and environmental due diligence rules.
HEJSupport contributed mainly to the chemicals part of the position paper. We demand to stop the chemical overload and go beyond a voluntary approach.
The call comes as clothing and textile production continues to increase, despite an abundance of sustainability initiatives from major fashion brands and retailers.
___________________________________________
Members of the Wardrobe Change coalition include the following groups and their membership: the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) (coordination), ECOS, RREUSE, Plastic Soup Foundation, Zero, Future in Our Hands, Changing Markets Foundation, HEJSupport, Generation Climate Europe, and Green Liberty.
Also supporting this paper are: Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO), Polish Zero Waste Association, Runder Tisch Reparatur, Zero Waste Europe, Umweltdachverband, FOCISV, Irish Environmental Network, WECF France, Institute Povod Slovenia, ISD Foundation Poland, Na Mysli, OKOBURO, WECF Netherlands, and Wontanara.
