TEXTILE WASTE AND USED CLOTHING

The export of textile waste or unwanted clothing to locations outside the EU has progressively expanded in response to the expanding worldwide trends in fast fashion. In 2021, this export totaled 1.4 million tonnes. Every year, the EU collects about 2.1 million tonnes of post-consumer textiles and clothes for recycling or for sale on international resale markets. This accounts for about 38% of the textiles sold in the EU. Any leftovers are disposed of in the combined trash streams.

One of the places where post-consumer textile waste or unwanted clothing from the EU is dumped each year is Pakistan. Used clothing worth USD 46 million was exported from the EU to Pakistan in 2021. High-street clothing from the EU eventually makes its way to local dumping grounds and resale shops. In the lack of effective waste hierarchy and traceability standards that discriminate between textile waste and used textile goods in both the EU and Pakistan, a significant amount of textile waste streams are imported into Pakistan and add to the nation’s already severe environmental problems. Uncontrolled waste streams from worn garments and a lack of recycling not only result in increased

The EU is currently giving sustainability top priority, encouraging textile circularity, and controlling the export of textile waste streams to other countries. The game will change for the secondhand clothing and textile industry in Pakistan as a result of EU legislative reforms, which will not only significantly reduce the dumping of textile waste but will also support the alignment of the existing textile business models with the circular textile business models.

The main drivers of significant imports of secondhand apparel from the EU to Pakistan are affordability and business through resale platforms. The customer desire for used clothes, which is thought to be of higher quality, has increased as a result of the worsening economic situation, which has made people more aware of their spending. A significant portion of the discarded clothing imported into Pakistan gets recycled, while the majority is sold straight. When compared to the fashion industry and the production of new textiles, the country’s growing used clothes market not only represents a pushback against the escalating fast-fashion systems. For instance, recycling and redesigning used clothing results in lower GHG emissions and water pollution than the

Pakistan has a huge potential to recycle and redesign used textiles. The current scenario indicates that imported used clothes are recycled by some industries, but the progress is not significant and major portions of these clothes enter resale markets and dumping sites directly. For instance, Karachi Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) is greatly benefiting from the used textile industry. It recycles and resales imported used clothes globally. Given the preference for the use of recycled material in new clothes, if industries are channeled into the market of recycled fashion, the recycling and redesigning of imported and locally generated used clothes can become a significant business market for Pakistan.

Recycled Polyester Staple Fiber (rPSF) is a highly suitable alternative for the industry to promote business through recycled fashion. The installment of recycling plants for the production of rPSF can uplift and green the industry’s business development, as it is the most preferred recycled content. rPSF has a huge business potential for brands and is now gaining high popularity, as it supports sustainability and compliance with the Global Recycling Standards (GRS) due to various desired physical properties including higher strength, low moisture absorbency, high elasticity, and comparatively easy production.

Textile circularity is now a matter of utmost attention for Pakistan’s textile industry. The industry is currently experiencing a massive transition from only manufacturing new textiles in the absence of strategies to ensure their circularity, to initiating circular business models, with a major focus on eco-designed textile products and recycling of used textiles. From knowledge dissemination to preparing skilled labor, implementing sustainable business models, and upscaling technology, textile companies are actively internalizing the EU’s guidelines and strategies to achieve zero waste targets. The progress, however, needs to be enhanced in the entire industry through coordination, the right financial allocations, and training.

THE NEXT BIG THING

EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles will enormously transform the textile production patterns in Pakistan. Driving fast fashion out of fashion by reversing overconsumption and overproduction is a major target of the strategy. The industry will be obligated to adopt resource-efficient manufacturing processes and circular business models. This will not only promote the manufacturing of superior quality clothing, but also the recycling of secondhand clothes, thus causing a massive shift in the consumers’ preference towards recycled secondhand textile products.

With the motto of #ReFashionNow, the EU is underlining the introduction of eco-design requirements for textiles including quality, durability, longer use, repair, and reuse of textile products, that will ultimately decouple textile waste generation from the growth. The textile industry will experience mandatory requirements to give second life to used textiles, which will require major shifts in industrial functioning. This will require skilled labor, efficient policies for waste hierarchy and collection, and technical progress for recycling, and treatment of used clothes.

As the EU’s strategy for textile circularity is getting stricter, the information requirements to track the origin of all the textile products via traceability mechanisms are also becoming a norm in the EU’s green economy plan. Through its Digital Product Passport initiative, the EU is introducing mandatory information requirements on circularity and key environmental aspects of textiles. This indicates that traceability mechanisms will gradually become applicable to secondhand textile products, both in the EU and Pakistan. From the export of secondhand textiles to their recycling and reuse points, this mechanism will trace all the necessary information of the product’s lifecycle, thus reducing dumping of the used textiles to the minimum.

Digital Product Passport is a milestone initiative to deal with greenwashing, which misleads buyers by giving a false impression of the environmental footprint of the companies. The EU’s criteria to avoid greenwashing are getting immensely stringent, as the European Commission is seeking to define all greenwashing tactics (figure 1) and disseminate information about them. While this will give enormous recognition to the textile companies in Pakistan who are making efforts to green their products; it will also hold accountable, the poorly performing companies, for their high environmental footprint.

CONCLUSION

Aligning business growth with the EU’s strategy for textile circularity by focusing maximum on eco-designed new products and recycling used textiles is the next step towards a new normal for Pakistan’s textile industry, as the strategy will soon enter into force. This will not only regulate the EU’s post-consumer textile waste misleadingly labeled as secondhand textiles entering Pakistan, but will also reduce the dumping of textile waste to the minimum levels.

It is a must for Pakistan’s textile industry to adopt waste hierarchy protocols for the imported and internally generated post-consumer textile waste and strengthen the traceability mechanism to trace its recycling and end-of-life points. As the EU is a top textile export destination for Pakistan and is increasingly focusing on eco-design requirements for textiles, management of post-consumer textile waste will fulfill the EU’s mounting requirements for textile circularity. The industry will observe a transition, as manufacturing of superior quality textile products and recycling and exporting of used clothes will dominate the industrial functioning. This will reduce the environmental footprint of the industry to a significant level and promote green economy-based industrial development.

This will require the right financial allocations, upscaling of the current technology, skilled labor, and coordination among the relevant stakeholders for knowledge dissemination, the absence of which will affect the industry’s compliance performance compared to its regional competitors, ultimately distressing the export-based business market to the EU.