Textile Strategy: European Parliament adopts resolution

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on an EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. The resolution stems from the “own-initiative procedure”, which is not a formal decision-making process but a significant precursor to the start of legislative procedures.

The vote in the Parliament received 600 votes in favour, 17 against and 16 abstentions, thus obliging the Commission to inform the Parliament whether a legislative proposal is coming.

The Resolution aims at making textile products more durable, and easier to reuse, repair and recycle. Parliamentarians also demand that production respects existing human, social, and labour rights, as well as environmental and animal welfare concerns.

Moreover, the Parliament calls for extended producer responsibility schemes to incentivise research, innovation, investments and the scale-up of infrastructure for collection, sorting and recycling.

The European Commission had already published a strategy for sustainable and circular textiles in March 2022 and, additionally, plans to revise the food waste and textile aspects of the EU Waste Framework Directive through a proposal on 5 July.

Furthermore, MEPs are demanding clear rules on greenwashing through the Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition and the Directive on green claims (see previous COMPASS article here).

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