California Passes Nation’s First Textiles Stewardship Law

Although textile recycling is new to the U.S., programs have been operating worldwide for years.

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): On September 28, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB707, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024, the first extended producer responsibility (EPR) law for textiles in the United States. The law mandates that producers of household textiles, including clothing, footwear, and hospitality items, finance and manage a statewide program to collect, encourage reuse, fund repair, or recycle post-consumer textiles. The law was championed by the California Product Stewardship Council and was supported by H&M Group, Ikea, Marmot, Circ Inc., and numerous others, including the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI). 

Under the new law, producers (e.g., brands) that sell textiles into California will be required to fund an industry-run producer responsibility organization (PRO) that is tasked with increasing the collection, sorting, reuse, repair, and recycling of post-consumer textiles. The PRO must create accessible textile collection points throughout the state, including retail take-back programs and other convenient drop-off sites. All producers of covered products must join a PRO that is approved by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery by July 1, 2026, with the program expected to be in operation by January 1, 2030.

Although textile recycling is new to the U.S., programs have been operating worldwide for years. France’s textile EPR program, in place since 2007, requires producers to finance the collection and recycling of materials while incorporating eco-design principles throughout the entire product lifecycle. Similarly, the Netherlands and Sweden also enacted textile EPR programs in 2022 and 2023, respectively; when fully implemented, these programs will focus on sustainable design, waste reduction, and recycling in alignment with the broader European Circular Economy Action Plan and the European Union’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. 

The fashion industry is one of the world’s worst polluting industries, accounting for 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the European Environment Agency. Textiles decomposing in landfills emit high levels of methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Additionally, dyes and other chemical additives from textiles can leach into the soil and contaminate groundwater. Although the trade group Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART) estimates that 95% of textiles are either reusable or recyclable, only about 15% are actually reused or recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For over a decade, PSI and its members and partners have advocated for EPR policies for post-consumer textiles. In 2016, the organization mediated the development of a standard list of textiles to be collected at for-profit and non-profit locations, including Goodwill and Salvation Army. The following year, we convened a multi-stakeholder summit at the Fashion Institute of Technology where brands, retailers, recycling/reuse organizations, state and local governments, researchers, nonprofits, and consumers discussed innovations in textiles production, recovery, recycling, and policies, including EPR.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com

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