Recent BIR World Recycling Convention & Exhibition, Gothenburg, (31 May) 1-3 June 2026.
The need for policymakers and regulators to work with the recycling and reuse sector, was a message repeated throughout the special side session organised by BIR’s Textiles Division in Gothenburg on 2 June. Representatives from the global textile reuse and recycling value chain came together to discuss how policy, trade and market realities can work together – not against each other – to deliver circularity.
Martin Böschen, BIR Textiles Division President, said it was a “critical moment” for the industry. “We are facing fundamental shifts driven by policy, market developments and the growing urgency to deliver real circularity” – and these developments need to be addressed at a global level.
In the past year, BIR had “significantly strengthened its role as a global voice for the textile reuse and recycling market, engaging actively in key international processes including the UN Basel Convention and broader multilateral discussions”.
Mr Böschen, CEO of Swiss Texaid Group, said the policy landscape was becoming more complex. The Basel Convention was moving into a new phase of work on used textiles and textile waste – which had potential implications for global trade and classification. Meanwhile, the EU Waste Shipments Directive comes into effect in May 2027, for which there was still some lack of clarity. Added to that, extended producer responsibility (EPR) was being implemented in many markets in the EU and elsewhere. Such measures would fundamentally change the way textiles are sorted, reused and recycled.
At the same time, the market backdrop was one of declining product quality, increasing volumes of fast fashion and “a growing imbalance between supply and real reuse demand”. The current conflict in the Middle East was also impacting the supply chain.
Rodrigo Polanco, Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the World Trade Institute, University of Bern and Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, involved in a recent study for the United Nations called ‘Improving Circularity in Second Hand Clothing Through Trade Regulation’, said he was struck by the gap in knowledge between those creating the regulations for this sector and those working in the industry. His key message to the industry was to work with those making the policy and regulations.
His report concluded: carefully designed and World Trade Organization-grounded technical regulations could help raise the quality of second hand clothing; traceability using digital tools was fundamental; a sustainable second-hand market required coordinated steps at all levels; and circularity could be advanced by linking EPR mechanisms to trade policy to ensure that those who profit from these flows also contribute to managing their downstream consequences.
In the session’s first panel discussion chaired by Savannah Coombe, Editor of UK-based Letsrecycle.com, Jessica Franken, Vice President for Government & External Affairs at the US-based Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) said the Basel Convention’s work on used textiles was “very much influenced” by the “negative media narrative” around the used clothing trade. Potentially textiles will be reclassified to require ‘prior informed consent’ which would add a barrier to trade. “Frankly, if some of these more extreme proposals move forward, the threat of that is essentially breaking the circular system for textiles that’s been successfully operating for well over 100 years.” Her hope was that, through educating policymakers on how the industry works, and what is and is not waste, “we can change the direction of that”.
Dr Zainab Naeem, Associate Research Fellow at Pakistan’s Sustainable Development Policy Institute explained that Pakistan is the largest importer of second-hand clothing. Used textiles was an area of market opportunity but there were challenges with the HS codes used by customs that did not distinguish between textile waste and second-hand clothing. “I think global criteria could help in defining and reshaping this entire trade and also to ensure traceability,” she said.
Kaj Pihl, Environment & Recycling Advisor at Denmark’s Humana People to People, said having set standards on acceptable quality in bales would create trust and transparency. He advised that an ISO standard for the cross-border trade of second-hand goods was under development, and that this would facilitate international trade of products including second-hand clothes.
The need for reliable data on which to determine policy and investment was advocated for by Jennifer Wang, Founder of Full Cycle Resource Consulting. She spoke of the debate around textiles waste figures in used clothing bales, with some studies quoting waste of 0.8% and others up to 60%. She urged everyone to read studies with a critical eye, and question who it interviewed, how questions were asked, what the definitions were, who was behind the study, and the context around it.
It was concerning that the media would pick up on these studies and amplify figures and findings, without putting them into context. Ms Franken added: “I think policy is often echoing some of the misinformation that we’ve been talking about and that lack of critical thinking when it comes to evaluating these studies and some of the ‘apples and oranges’ comparisons that are made in these studies.” But on the positive side, measures like EPR being introduced in some US states would include requirements for traceability and establish levels of data needed. This provided an opportunity for the industry to help craft a system that was realistic.
However, policymakers in the developed world needed to understand the realities of the industry in the developing countries receiving much of their used clothing, and the informal nature of the sector, Ms Naeem said. Pakistan lacked the knowledge, technology and finance to implement systems such as traceability and EPR, so regions needed to support each other. Ms Wang, having done a lot of field research in East African countries, said those working in receiving countries wanted to “be at the table” with policymakers but now had a lack of trust at how their story would be spun. “I think the question is: How do we include them, moving forward?” Ms Franken described the situation as ‘policy colonialism’. “You have the Global North imposing what it thinks should be done in these receiving countries. And yet, they’re not really talking to the people and businesses that are going to be impacted, whose livelihoods depend on it.”
Use of different terminology and different interpretations across the world was also a problem, particularly on what was considered ‘waste’. In Pakistan, sustainability was inherent in traditional practices, but local languages did not include terms like sustainability or circularity. “So, we are not able to connect [this] with global best practices or [say] if it is ‘sustainability’ or if it is ‘circular economy’,” said Ms Naeem.
For Nohar Nath, Director at Indian Kishco Group, fast fashion was his key concern. “I think the problem really starts with fast fashion and the volume of clothing that is now being created, produced and consumed worldwide,” he said. “Fast fashion is going to grow and grow” but it was the consumer, the governments and the brands – rather than the industry – who could change this. Ms Wang added that fast fashion was also a source of misinformation around second-hand clothing, something “not a lot of people are talking about”.
The second panel session, chaired by Andreia Barbosa, Circular Economy Officer at Humana People to people, focused on Sweden. Karolina Skog, chairperson of the Nordic Textiles Network, said Sweden’s implementation of mandatory separation of textile waste in January last year resulted in widespread media coverage, and headlines such as ‘You cannot put your old socks in the bin anymore’. This resulted in a national clear out, which overwhelmed textile collection points with large volumes of poor-quality items that no one wanted to buy.
The industry pushed back and the government changed its bill, so that damaged textiles were allowed in the residual waste stream. Ms Skog said the lesson was that regulation had to be built around market realities. And clear communication was needed for citizens on the distinction between ‘reusable’ and ‘recyclable’. Separation of reuse material from recycling material was also important: “When reuse and recycling materials are mixed, economic and environmental values are wasted. You get cross contamination and you get very complicated conditions for sorting.”
Providing the perspective of a responsible fashion brand, was Sandra Roos, Vice President of Sustainability at Kappahl. The business has a goal of 10% of income from second-hand by 2040. It takes back its own label garments, even stained and dirty, and is happy to recondition them and sell them “like every other garment”. It is exploring enzyme washing and ozone bleaching as well as normal 40 degree washing. Ms Roos called it “a myth” that reconditioning, as part of business, is expensive. “We have almost the same margin as the gross margin…this is equal profitability.” Important to this line of business was the co-development of an app for quick identification of take-back garments, using the washing and neck labels. This has brought costs down.
Ms Roos questioned the benefit of recycled content quotas in clothing and how they “would force us to increase climate emissions, water scarcity and resource depletion” as well as reducing the quality of garments, as recycled fibres were less strong, and their quality would reduce each time they were recycled. Despite much focus on textile-to-textile recycling, she did not believe in its business case, “if it’s just fashion brands going to pay whatever price it costs”.
Instead, she said textile waste could be used as an alternative fuel source to coal, for steel manufacturers. In this case, there was environmental benefit of using recycled material over virgin, and a demand. “My approach is that you should do the treatment that has the most environmental benefit and the lowest cost, and that is seldom textile-to-textile recycling,” she said.
Speakers in the final session, moderated by Alan Wheeler, CEO of the UK-based Textile Recycling Association, built on many of the issues already raised. The panel included Hannah Parris, former Research Associate at the University of Cambridge; Helio Moreira, Head of Sorting at Textile House; Ekaterina Stoyanova, Senior Policy Advisor at Recycling Europe; Samuel Ofori-Gymapoh, Co-founder Ghana-based Landfill2Landmarks; and Kirsi Roine, Senior Director of EU Business Operations at Accelerating Circularity.
Demonstrating how to work with industry, Landfills2Landmarks has been working with the Ghanaian Standards Authority to set up a recognised standard for bales. By engaging with second-hand clothing sellers in the market, it identified what sells, to determine what should be accepted in bales. This will help regulators identify and manage those who breach this. Moreira, giving the European sorter perspective, feared this would “add layers of complication” for sorters, if different countries had different standards. But Ofori-Gymapoh reassured it was a measure to “flush out non-conforming exporters” rather than impact good sorters.
As the session closed, Mr Böschen said there was much to reflect on: “Especially, of course, to keep the conversation open with regulators.”
Source: BIR
