Switzerland generates around 110,000 tons of used clothing a year, reported SRF. Most of it is unwanted. Only 1 in 100 items finds a buyer, according to Sascha Sardella, the operations manager at Tell-Tex, one of Switzerland’s largest textile collection organisations. Second hand clothes can’t compete with cheap new clothes from China, he said.
Cheap fast fashion means more and more second hand clothes are either burned or end up in landfill, often in African nations.
What can be done to stem this waste and the environmental damage it does?
In 2026, extended producer responsibility will come into force in the EU. This will extend the responsibility of companies throughout the entire life cycle of their products. Responsibilities will include end-of-life management, including waste collection and recycling. It is hoped these rules will push companies to reduce waste. How exactly it will be implemented remains unclear. Companies in China sending products to Europe would need to invest in waste solutions in Europe. But how would that work?
Clothing is often a recycling nightmare. Mixed fibres are difficult to separate. Tell-Tex is currently building a new recycling plant costing roughly CHF 40 million with the aim of mending clothes, reusing them or processing them into fibres that can be used to make new clothing. However, it’s unclear whether the investment will pay off.
Recycling also has an environmental impact. It requires machinery, energy and produces its own waste and emissions. It was largely created and promoted by producers as a smoke screen for the alternative: less consumption of their waste producing products. For example, without recycling, encouraging people to cut the consumption of drinks in disposable containers in order to reduce waste would be an easier sell. In addition, recycling rates are often far lower than many companies would like consumers to believe. For example, in many Swiss municipalities Tetrapak containers are burned because they are too costly to recycle. A high percentage of packaging bearing recycling logos is burned.
Rules that encourage producers to make products more repairable would help. Airpods are an often cited product that frustrate owners with their lack of repairability. In the end probably the best fix is to buy less.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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