Fast fashion firms prepare for EU crackdown on waste mountain

To address Europe’s burgeoning clothing waste problem, fast fashion companies are gearing up for a crackdown by the European Union. A Barcelona-based warehouse, supported in part by Zara-owner Inditex, intends to double its capacity for sorting and recycling clothing within a year. Inditex, H&M, Mango, and other competitors have formed a non-profit organization to manage clothing waste, responding to an EU regulation mandating the separation of textiles from other waste by January 2025. However, less than a quarter of Europe’s clothing waste is currently recycled. The EU aims to increase textile recycling to 2.5 million tonnes by 2030. The obstacles to significantly reducing clothing waste are substantial. According to a McKinsey report, between 6 and 7 billion euros in investment will be required by 2030 to create the necessary textile waste processing and recycling capacity.