From Waste to Worth – Minister Dillon launches public consultation on National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with special responsibility for the Circular Economy, Alan Dillon, has today launched a public consultation on a National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles.

Minister Dillon said:

Current trends in textile production, consumption, and post-consumption present major environmental challenges, in Ireland and globally. The textiles industry operates in a linear 'take-make-waste' model, but there is great potential for a textiles circular economy. Textiles, including clothing, have the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate change, after food, housing, and transport, so it is a priority area for action to realise Ireland’s circular economy ambitions.

This draft National Policy Statement and Roadmap sets out for the first time a policy direction for Ireland regarding textiles, including the enhancement of our textiles separate collection system which is essential to maximises opportunities for reuse.

The aim of this public consultation is to seek views from organisations and individuals on the draft National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles. This draft has been informed by insights and recommendations from the Textiles Advisory Group, and other sources. The document proposes the necessary steps for Ireland to achieve a circular economy in textiles.

The public consultation opens today (Wednesday, 21 May, 2025) and will be open for a period of six weeks and will close on Monday, 7 July 2025. Full details are available on the department's website.

Circular Economy

The Circular Economy is a means of preventing waste through keeping resources in use for as long as possible – repairing, sharing and recycling more.

It recognises the need to shift from the current linear (take-make-waste) model of production and consumption to one in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of life.

Government policy supports a transition to a circular economy.

Government policy on textiles

Textiles is a priority material stream to realise the government's circular economy ambitions. Our current policy includes a Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy 2020-2025 which establishes our commitment to tackle the environmental degradation caused by textiles in Ireland, in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders. It sets out measures to tackle the textile challenge including to develop a separate collection of textiles waste generated by households by 1 January 2025 in line with EU requirements; support improved data on the nature and extent of the used textile stream; promote eco-design for clothing and textiles in collaboration with Irish fashion designers and retailers and support an education and awareness campaign around textiles.

In 2022, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications established a Textiles Advisory Group, bringing together relevant expertise from industry, community and regulatory bodies. As part of its workplan for 2024/2025, the department agreed to prepare and publish a National Policy Statement and Roadmap. For further information see the department's website.

This draft Statement and Roadmap has been informed by insights and recommendations from the Textile Advisory Group, and other sources. It sets out a vision, common principles, strategic objectives and next steps for the future development of the textile circular economy. This draft has been informed by extensive stakeholder input including from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local government sector.

European policy developments on textiles

In 2022, the European Commission launched the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, as part of the Sustainable Products Initiative. The Textiles Strategy sets a 2030 vision, whereby:

• textile products placed on the EU market are long-lived and recyclable, to a great extent made of recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances and produced respecting social rights and the environment
• 'fast fashion is out of fashion' – customers benefit longer from high quality and affordable textiles and re-use and repair services are widely available
• producers take responsibility for products throughout the value chain including waste, aiming to make producers who manufacture and sell disposable goods for profit environmentally accountable for the products they place on the market

In July 2023, the European Commission announced a new legislative proposal to revise the Waste Framework Directive which plans to introduce mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles. The key objective of the proposed EPR scheme is to apply the "polluter pays principle" while creating an economy for textile collection, sorting, reuse and recycling. EPR will incentivise producers to ensure their products are designed with circularity in mind, creating better products from the start. Common EU extended producer responsibility rules will also make it easier for Member States to implement the separate collection of textiles requirement. This proposal has progressed to the final stage of negotiation between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU and is expected to be adopted in 2025.

The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), published on 30 March 2022, is the cornerstone of the Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products. Under the ESPR the European Commission plan to develop mandatory Ecodesign requirements for certain products including textiles to make them last longer, easier to repair and recycle, as well as requirements on minimum recycled content. It will also introduce a Digital Product Passport for products including textiles based on mandatory information requirements on circularity and other key environmental aspects so that there is clear, structured and accessible information on the environmental sustainability of products. It is also proposed to introduce a transparency obligation requiring large companies to publicly disclose the number of products they discard and destroy, including textiles, and introduce bans on the destruction of unsold or returned textiles. The Regulation was formally adopted in June 2024 and work has begun on implementing the provisions concerning textiles, as it has been designated a priority product under the legislation.

Key facts about textiles

• the fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions*, while only 31% of Irish people see a link between purchasing textiles and climate change
• textiles (including clothing) have the fourth highest impact on climate change, after food, housing and transport
• over 100 billion new items of clothes are made every year and less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
• recent research from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that textiles such as clothing and household textiles make up 9% of waste in the general waste bin

* The impact of textile production and waste on the environment (infographics) | News | European Parliament (europa.eu)