Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries: Austria
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-06-30
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): EURATEX Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Cristina Last name of representative: Gatti Gender: Female Nationality: Italy If relevant, please select your other nationality: United Kingdom Function: PR & Communications Manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rue Belliard 40 Town: Brussels Postal code: 1040 Country: Belgium Direct Tel:+32 470 93 39 92 E-mail:cristina.gatti@euratex.eu Website:https://euratex.eu/
The ReHubs initiative brings together key European and international stakeholders to address the problem of textile waste by transforming “waste” into a resource and boosting the textile circular economy.
By the end of 2024, all EU Member States will be bound to collect textiles waste. However, a large-scale plan to either avoid landfill and incineration or to make new raw materials is currently not available. Additionally, no large-scale recycling capacity for textile materials to switch from the traditional linear textile business model into a circular one yet exists. Instead, the textile industry mainly uses virgin raw materials and generates high quantities of waste.
In line with the EU Green Deal, ReHubs promotes collaboration across the textile value chain; also, ReHubs aims at establishing an integrated European system where recycling hubs are able to transform and give value to millions of tons of textile waste.
In summer 2022, ReHubs presented the results of the Techno-Economic Master Study (TES), which identified the main bottlenecks. It also looked at boosting capacity to treat large textile waste volumes to replace landfill and incineration through the use of digital coordination platforms; while scaling economies and investments, ReHubs should ultimately generate new textile materials and new sustainable jobs all across Europe.
ReHubs facilitates cooperation by engaging stakeholders at three different levels: Stakeholder Forum, Task Force, Business Council. With more than 140 companies and institutions from over 20 countries, the Stakeholder Forum discusses common concerns for circular textiles and recycling. National textile associations from 13 countries monitor progress and provide advice on key national policies on waste and recycling in the Task Force. In the Business Council, EURATEX together with numerous pioneering companies take concrete actions to acquire key data, study options and accelerate the launch of the ReHubs system.
Sustainability
Collaboration
Textile
Recycling
Circular economy
The key objectives of ReHubs in terms of sustainability are reducing textile waste and promoting the creation of a circular economy in the textile ecosystem.
Today, more than 15 kilograms of textile waste is generated per person every year in Europe alone. The largest source of textile waste is discarded clothes and home textiles from consumers – accounting for around 85% of the total waste. The generation of textile waste is problematic as incineration and landfills — both inside and outside Europe — are its primary end destinations with many negative consequences for both people and the environment. ReHubs aims at creating an inclusive and sustainable new business model that turns textile waste into value. One of the most sustainable and scalable levers available is fibre-to-fibre recycling — turning textile waste into new fibres that are then used to create new clothes or other textile products. Once the system will be fully mature, it is believed 70% of textile waste could be fibre-to-fibre recycled.
ReHubs is the first step towards a new way of consuming textiles and clothes – it is a paradigm shift. The clothing and textile industry is a highly resource-intensive and waste generating industry, accounting for 3 to 10 percent of global CO2 emissions. To achieve a transformation from linear to circular, the industry needs to pull multiple solution levers simultaneously.
Today, the textile value chain is principally based on a linear “take-make-waste” logic, where large amounts of resources are extracted to produce items that often are only used for a short time. In addition, growing consumption and waste volumes in Europe are a global problem, as textile waste exported from Europe ends up polluting less-developed countries. This linear textile system puts pressure on resources, leaves many economic opportunities untapped, and has adverse effects on the environment.
The transition from a linear to a circular model requires several impact levers such as solving overproduction and overconsumption with a change to a “less-is-more” model is important but is still underdeveloped. New circular business models, like the resale of used clothing or rental and repair services, are being explored by start-ups and scale-ups as well as by brands and retailers. Design for circularity — with increased consideration for circularity at the design and product development stages of material consumption, as well as for the longevity and durability of the product and the recyclability of garments and home textiles — is being broadly discussed but is mostly applied only in pilot stages today.
ReHubs aims at bringing together companies of all sizes from the textile value chain to create an unprecedented collaboration. ReHubs facilitates cooperation by engaging stakeholders at three different levels: a Stakeholder Forum, a Task Force, and the Business Council. With more than 140 companies and education institutions from over 20 countries, the Stakeholder Forum discusses common concerns for circular textiles and textile recycling. While the national textile associations from 13 countries forming the ReHubs Task Force monitor progress, provide advice on key national policies on waste and recycling. Finally, In the Business Council, EURATEX together with 19 pioneering companies take concrete actions to acquire key data, study options and accelerate the launch of the ReHubs system.
Collaboration is imperative, and all stakeholders are strongly encouraged to think creatively for solutions beyond current company parameters to find collaborative approaches to develop and scale up the required technology.
In order to move the textile business model from a linear into a circular economy, it is estimated that capital expenditure investments in the range of €6 billion to €7 billion would be needed by 2030. The entire value chain, including textile collection, sorting, and recycling, requires investments to reach its full scale. The industry could — once it has matured and scaled — become a self-standing, profitable industry with a €1.5 billion to €2.2 billion annual profit pool by 2030. The textile recycling value chain could create a new valuable raw material that enables more apparel production in Europe, which may lead to additional value creation.
Beyond the direct economic benefits, scaling textile recycling unlocks several environmental and social benefits. For example, in a base-case scenario around 15,000 new jobs could be created and CO2e emissions could be reduced by around four million tons — equivalent to the cumulative emissions of a country the size of Iceland. By quantifying into monetary terms several other impact dimensions like the secondary effects to GDP from job creation, CO2e emission reduction, and water- and land-use reduction, the industry could reach €3.5 billion to €4.5 billion in total annual holistic impact by 2030.
ReHubs facilitates cooperation by engaging stakeholders at three different levels: Stakeholder Forum, Task Force, and Business Council. With more than 140 companies and educational institutions from over 20 countries, the Stakeholder Forum discusses common concerns for circular textiles and recycling. The added value of the Stakeholder Forum is the far-reach impact and impact on the wider textile and clothing ecosystem.
The ReHubs Task Force monitors progress, provides advice on key national policies on waste and recycling by bring together national textile associations from 13 countries ensuring the ReHubs initiatives reaches the governmental sphere while policy makers are made aware of the need of textile recycling.
In the Business Council, EURATEX and 19 pioneering companies take concrete actions to acquire key data, study options and accelerate the launch of the ReHubs system. This hands-on forum is the core of the ReHubs initiative and ensures the implementation of concrete measures are thought and put in place. Companies engaged in the ReHubs Business Council and supporting the TES include: Alsico, Boer Group, Concordia, Decathlon, Gherzi, Inditex, Indorama, Lenzing, Marchi & Fildi, Noyfil/Radici Group, Ratti, Recover, SAATI, Soex, Texaide, Wolkat.
By bringing together different players from the textile value chain through the three-tiers consultation system (including the Stakeholder Forum, Task Force, and Business Council), each one of them provides its experience and expertise in the textile ecosystem. The result has been the Techno-Economic master Study (TES) drafted by a world leader strategy consultancy and presented in summer 2022.
The study provides critical information on technological, organisation and financial needs to launch the ReHubs initiative. The Techno-Economic master Study was supported by several pioneering companies across Europe and from different parts of the textile value chains, which provided funds and expertise. The results showed that textile recycling at scale could help solve Europe’s waste problem—an 18 to 26 percent fibre-to-fibre recycling rate could be achieved by 2030.
ReHubs directly answers the need for long-term, life-cycle thinking in the textile industrial ecosystem. Today, more than 15 kilograms of textile waste is generated per person every year for a total of 7 million to 7.5 million tons a year in Europe alone. ReHubs concretely addresses the problem of textile waste by transforming “waste” into a resource and boosting the textile circular economy.
By the end of 2024, all EU Member States will be bound to separately collect textiles waste. However, a large-scale plan to either avoid landfill and incineration or to make new raw materials is not currently available. Additionally, no large-scale recycling capacity for textile materials to switch from the traditional linear textile business model into a circular on yet exists. By creating 150-250 new or larger recycling hubs across Europe, ReHubs aims at building the European textile recycling value chain unlocking several environmental and social benefits.
The identified bottlenecks preventing companies to scaling up the textile waste recycling are significant and require several stakeholders to act boldly. Textile recycling in Europe will not reach a favourable state by 2030 unless major action is taken quickly.
ReHubs has created a new type of partnership, which includes all the steps of the textile value chain including chemicals, fibres makers, textiles makers, garment producers and retailers, as well as textiles waste collectors, sorters and recyclers. By connecting private and public funds – by example, through the Extended Producer Responsibility schemes – will ensure scaling up innovative solutions. ReHubs is an ambition initiative that aims at ultimately tackle the full range of textile waste and build solutions for a societal challenge. Indeed, ramping up collection, sorting, and pre-processing will help solve the European textile-waste issue.
The unique three-tier structure of ReHubs ensures all stakeholders of the textile ecosystem are somehow involved in the initiative and aware of its outcome and progress. Through different level of engagements, all stakeholders are able to provide their experience, knowledge, and expertise in the data gathering and analysis of the textile waste problems. By proving a public-private partnership, solid results were published in summer 2022 in the Techno-Economic Master Study (TES). By providing technical, financial and practical guidelines, the Study provides the reference point for the industry to move further towards an effective and profitable textile waste management system. As a consequence, a new business model moving from linear to circular economy can be put into action.
The ReHubs initiative can easily be replicated in Europe and abroad where textile stakeholders play a crucial role in the local economy.
Both the consulting and knowledge sharing structure of ReHubs can be replicated in other areas of Europe and of the world. Local textile stakeholders should come together to acknowledge the problem of textile waste. Knowledge and expertise should be taken as an examples from the Techno-Economic Master Study (TES) leading to the implementation of concrete actions towards the reduction of textile waste at local level.
The adverse environmental effects of the clothing and textile industry include: waste generation, climate effects, freshwater usage, chemical pollution, microplastics pollution. This are issues that are not geographically limited. Indeed, global warming and other environmental challenges are particular difficult to tackle because of their global impact.
By providing a solution towards the recycling of textiles and the reduction of textile waste in Europe, ReHubs address all such challenges with an impact on the environment and human life all over the world. Indeed, the spillover effect of ReHubs is a crucial aspect of the initiative.
