The Government comes to the rescue of the overwhelmed clothing recycling system

BarcelonaOverwhelmed, pressured, and facing costs that threaten to overwhelm them. This is the current situation in Catalonia for many organizations and companies, many in the third sector, dedicated to the selective collection and sorting of clothing and textiles deposited in designated containers for reuse. The sector is facing a twofold problem: on the one hand, a massive and ever-increasing volume of clothing and textiles complicates management at facilities across the country. On the other hand, there is the glut of secondhand clothing in international markets, where the sorted materials used to find a market. If they cannot sell, the management costs become unsustainable for these social enterprises.

Part of the solution lies in implementing the long-awaited system that will require fashion and textile manufacturers to take responsibility for and cover the management costs of waste generated by their products. The so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system is under development in Spain and will take another year to reach full capacity, which has forced the Catalan government to take action and come to the rescue of the sector to prevent the collapse that companies are warning about. This will be done through local authorities, which are the ones that have contracted the services of these companies to manage all textile recycling. While the Catalan government previously granted municipalities 10 euros per ton of separately collected textiles, the amount will now increase to 50 euros per ton—or even higher, up to 75 euros in small rural municipalities. This money, which comes from the return of the tax paid by local authorities for landfilling and incineration of waste—formerly known as the levy—should be able to cover the higher costs that the sector faces.

In total, the Catalan government will allocate two million euros to cover the costs in 2026. This calculation takes into account that, starting this year, the law requires municipalities to have separate collection of textiles, and that, while currently only 13.6% of total textile waste is collected separately—the entirety of textile waste—this percentage will gradually increase. The Catalan Waste Agency assumes that the 21,600 tons of clothing currently deposited in clothing containers will almost double by the end of next year, reaching around 40,000 tons.

The Catalan government insists that this financial lifeline aims to "give a boost to local businesses and alleviate the economic pressure on waste management companies," in the words of the Minister of Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition, Silvia Paneque. And the department insists that this aid has been chosen solely to overcome the impasse caused by the delay in the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system, which will ultimately require industry and manufacturers to bear the costs of this waste. Meanwhile, the fact is that the reuse market situation is complex. Without destinations to send all that the local market cannot absorb—neither to give garments a second life nor to recycle fabrics into other materials like upholstery, rags, etc.—the material remains in warehouses or must find another outlet. If there is no alternative, or if the fabrics are not of good quality, which often happens, some of these tons end up being incinerated, leading to increased costs for municipalities, which pay for each ton they send to landfill or incineration. This explains the Generalitat's move.