The global textile industry faces a serious challenge that has direct consequences for the environment and climate change. More than 125 million tons of material are consumed globally each year. Despite this massive volume, less than 1 % of new textiles are produced from recycled textile waste. Most textile waste ends up in landfills, incinerators, or is exported to countries that often lack the adequate infrastructure to manage it responsibly. This linear model causes significant negative environmental and social impacts.

The situation is also exacerbated by the declining proportion of textiles suitable for reuse, partly due to the rise of ultra-fast fashion and cheap, short-lived clothing. Stagnant export markets and growing waste volumes are putting pressure on existing collection and sorting systems. Without an effective recycling system, the textile waste crisis is deepening, with a direct impact on emissions and resource depletion.

New report Systemiq's 2025 report, titled "The Textile Recycling Breakthrough: Why policy must lead the scale-up of polyester recycling in Europe," produced in collaboration with various partners, highlights that this linear state contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of fossil fuels, which are the basis for the production of virgin polyester.

The report points out that advanced textile recycling technologies, especially depolymerization methods, have undergone significant development in recent years. These technologies represent promising solution for processing large volumes of growing polyester textile waste in Europe, especially in cases where reuse or mechanical recycling is not feasible. Depolymerization methods are not only technically capable of producing materials equivalent to virgin polyester, but are also environmentally attractiveThey have potential. significantly reduce the negative consequences of increasing textile waste and, crucially for combating climate change, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to producing virgin polyester from fossil fuels.

Despite its environmental benefits and technical capabilities, depolymerization has not yet been widely deployed. For these technologies to reach a point of mass adoption where recycling polyester waste through depolymerization would be more competitive than producing virgin polyester from fossil fuels, two major obstacles must be addressed: affordability and accessibility.

Affordability is the most significant barrier. Currently, the production of recycled polyester from post-consumer textile waste in Europe is approximately 2.6 times more expensive than the average cost of virgin polyester in Asia. This price premium means that most brands continue to prefer cheaper virgin polyester, slowing the transition to more circular and low-carbon solutions. Accessibility, in turn, hampers the process on both the supply side (lack of quality waste as a raw material) and the demand side (low willingness to pay a higher price).

The report clearly states that without targeted policy measures focused on addressing affordability and accessibility, depolymerization will remain “trapped in pilot projects” unless the necessary breakthrough occurs. Coordinated action by policy and industry is needed to overcome these barriers and unlock the environmental potential through ten interdependent levers.

The most important lever to bridge the price gap and reach a tipping point that will enable mass adoption and subsequent emission reductions is an ambitious Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemeThe EPR system is crucial because it has the potential to cover approximately 55 % cost difference between recycled and virgin polyester. This fundamentally strengthens the business case for textile-to-textile recycling. In addition to directly reducing the price gap, the EPR levy also indirectly supports other levers such as reducing investment risk, boosting demand, stimulating better design and improving access to the input raw material by financing waste collection and sorting infrastructure. It is estimated that an EPR levy of around €250/tonne would be needed to cover the net costs of collection, sorting and recycling by 2028, rising to 330 EUR/tonne by 2035. Combined with the so-called "green surcharge" of EUR 55/tonne, the total additional costs would be EUR 385/tonne, which on a 400-gram sweater would only be reflected as 0.15 EUR per piece – a negligible amount compared to the environmental costs of the linear model.

If these policy and industrial levers are activated, the production of recycled polyester from textiles in Europe could double by 2035. increase almost tenfold, from around 30,000 tonnes before 2028 to 300,000 tonnes per year. This would represent exponential growth and around 15% of the polyester textiles consumed in Europe. The result would be a competitive, circular industry in Europe that would directly contribute to economic resilience, job creation and, crucially for the climate, to significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The report clearly shows that expanding textile recycling to textiles is urgent and necessary to tackle textile waste and mitigate climate change. But this will not happen without bold political support, investment in infrastructure, clear standards and supportive regulation. By activating these measures, Europe has the opportunity to become a leader in the transition to a circular economy in textiles, which will bring not only economic but above all social benefits. fundamental environmental and climate benefits. Spring

Glossary of key terms

• Depolymerization: A chemical process that breaks down polymers (such as polyester) into their monomer components, which can then be used to make new, virgin materials.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): A policy that shifts the responsibility for end-of-life management of products to the manufacturers of those products.
• Post-consumer waste: Waste material that comes from consumers who have used a product and then thrown it away.
• Virgin polyester: Polyester made directly from fossil fuels, not from recycled materials.
• Tipping Point: The point at which a small change can lead to large, often unpredictable changes in the system. In the context of the report, this refers to the point at which textile recycling becomes more competitive and starts to grow exponentially.
• Linear textile system: The traditional “take-make-throw” model, where materials are obtained, used, and then disposed of as waste.
• Circular economy: An economic model that seeks to keep products, materials, and resources in circulation for as long as possible, thereby minimizing waste.
• Feedstock: Raw material or material used in an industrial process, in this case textile waste for recycling.
• Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR): An EU regulation that aims to ensure that products placed on the EU market are more durable, reliable, reusable, repairable, easier to maintain, refurbish and recycle, and energy and resource efficient.
• Green Premium: The premium that consumers or businesses are willing to pay for products with better environmental performance, in this case recycled polyester compared to virgin polyester.