New EU regulation is underway to ban the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear as part of wider plans to make products sold on the EU market more sustainable.

The law will enable the setting of ecodesign requirements and information for almost all categories of physical goods that come onto the EU market. Source credit: EU Commission.

The new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation builds on the existing Ecodesign Directive, which currently only covers energy-related products and aims to significantly improve the circularity, energy performance and other environmental sustainability aspects of all products including textiles and footwear placed on the EU market.

The law will enable the setting of ecodesign requirements and information for almost all categories of physical goods that come onto the EU market.

Ecodesign is concerned with the integration of environmental considerations into all stages of product development. 

The EU Commission says it is crucial in a world where there is such a high demand for efficient and sustainable products as a way of reducing energy and resource consumption.

With the passing of the regulation, a sustainable product will have to display one or more of the following characteristics:

• Uses less energy

• Lasts longer

• Can be easily repaired

• Parts can be easily disassembled and put to further use

• Contains fewer substances of concern

• Can be easily recycled

• Contains more recycled content

• Has a lower carbon and environmental footprint over its lifecycle.

The EU regulation also introduces measures to ban the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear and opens a way to extend similar bans on other sectors, if evidence shows they are needed.

Companies will also be required to publicly disclose on their websites annual information, such as the number and weight of products they discarded, as well as the reasons for doing so.

Last month The European Union cemented its decision by adopting the “right-to-repair” directive to make repair a more “attractive” economic activity for the EU, consumers and the environment.

By Just Style