Materials regeneration company Reju and eleven other companies across the textile value chain have formed the European Circular Textile Coalition and issued a manifesto for a fully circular textile  economy, urging the EU to transform post-consumer textile waste into a driver of green  jobs, innovation and competitiveness.

Europe generates 12.6 million tons of textile waste annually, with most of it  landfilled, incinerated or exported and just 1% recycled back into new garments. The  coalition stresses that this is no longer acceptable.

“We refuse to accept textile waste as an inevitability, instead, we see it as a solvable  challenge for our generation,” its manifesto states.

The coalition is calling for urgent EU action to match regulatory ambition with investment in  recycling and manufacturing systems, because without system readiness, even the most forward-looking regulations risk falling short. 

To drive change, the manifesto sets out three key policy pillars. It calls for a competitive European textile chain that brings production back to European shores, ensuring that environmental and labour standards are upheld. It also emphasises the importance of prioritising high-quality textile-to-textile recycling, positioning post-consumer textile waste as the main feedstock for new materials.

Finally, it advocates the introduction of mandatory recycled content in textiles, with ambitious yet achievable targets to be phased in over time.

“Reju is a system change company and we strongly believe that change happens with  collaboration,” says Patrik Frisk,  Reju CEO.  “That is why this collation is important to drive change collectively as an industry pulling together and we welcome more businesses to join us. Voluntary efforts have proven grossly insufficient – we need binding standards to drive  demand for recycled materials.”

The coalition is launching an advocacy tour to engage policymakers and invites other  actors from across the textile value chain to join its mission.

In addition to Reju, the coalition includes Ariadne, Coleo, Erdotex, European Spinning Group, Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, Noyfil, Sympany, Synergies TLC, Tissage de Charlieu, and Utexbel.

www.reju.com