This is what EPR currently looks like in Belgium

By 2050, textiles in Europe must be fully circular. This is why France was one of the first to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR), meanwhile, the Netherlands also introduced their UPV scheme on 1 July 2023 and Wallonia has started a preliminary study on new legislation around UPV.
In an EPR, producers become responsible for the life and end life of the textiles they produce, companies will then have a take-back obligation. How will Belgium go about this?

The first phase has already been launched, on 16 February 2022 the Belgian fashion federation Creamoda, the Federation of Belgian Textile Care (FBT) and professional federation of manufacturers, distributors and service providers Febelsafe jointly presented a new project called Circletex vzw. A boost for the EPR in Belgium!

Circletex is setting up a national collection system to collect the textile waste flows in Belgium, sort them for local reuse and, if possible, recycle them into new fibers. Circletex initially started in the form of a study on the quantities and composition of produced and end-of-life textiles in Belgium, as well as on existing recycling technologies and standards, in order to then look for possible collection and processing scenarios for the collection concept. Afterwards, the non-profit organisation set up a management organisation for end-of-life textiles. 

The collection began with a focus on corporate apparel, including linens, workwear and protective clothing. This focus has since expanded to include all textiles of both private and professional use, including clothing, table linen, outdoor textiles, sportswear and interior textiles such as bedding.

Membership in Circletex is voluntary for producers and retailers for the time being. Member companies pay only an administrative fee. Fashion brands and retailers such as JBC have already joined the organisation.

COSH! looks forward to the further implementation and results of this project and hopes to see a UPV Textiles legislation soon. 

Want to learn more about extended producer responsibility in general? Read this blog blog on COSH! Curious about how the Netherlands is tackling the EPR? Then click here.