Extended producer responsibility for textiles: ‘don't miss out’

Do you import textiles to sell in the Netherlands? Or do you actually sell textiles from the Netherlands to other EU countries? Then it is important to think about the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for textiles, as you will most likely have to deal with this. In short, extended producer responsibility for textiles means that the party that is the 1st in the sales chain to place textiles on the market in a country, is immediately responsible for the collection, preparation for reuse and the recycling of these textile products when the user disposes of them.

EPR is a proven method of placing the final responsibility for products on the party placing them on the market. In the EU, an increasing number of products are regulated in this way; for example, packaging, batteries, electrical appliances, mattresses, DIY products and sports and game articles. Not every EU country has legislation for all of these items. For some products, the EPR has been in place for years in all countries, such as for electrical products and packaging. For other products, it has only recently applied. In the Netherlands the legislation for textiles became active in 2023, in France it has existed since 2007.

Producer responsibility entails a number of obligations, including registering as a producer with a country's national registry and the aforementioned responsibilities if the product is disposed of. The latter in particular can be challenging. How do you keep track of where your textile products remain in each EU country so that you can take responsibility at the end of the road?

Producer responsibility may be filled in individually, but it is much simpler to do it collectively with other producers. In each country where you have producer responsibility, you join a producer collective for textiles from that country and periodically report to this collective the quantity of textile products put on the market. The collective charges a certain amount per textile category and the money collected in this way pays for the logistics around collection, reuse and recycling. The end users of the textile products can hand them in if they want to get rid of them at different locations so that it is as easy as possible, and as many textiles as possible are collected.

Extended producer responsibility for textiles will be introduced in more and more EU countries. So it is important to familiarize yourself with this when importing and selling textiles. Besides the fact that there are costs involved in each country that you have to take into account, you will probably also have to adapt your organization accordingly.

Because periodic reporting is required on how many textile products (weight) per textile category (currently limited to a number of consumer products, such as clothing and household textiles) have been put on the market in a country, this information will have to be available in the inventory and/or sales systems.

Experience from, for example, the EPR for WEEE (electrical appliances) shows that each country has its own emphases in national legislation. As a result, you may have to report more or differently in one country than in another. Registration procedures will also differ. Now there are only a few EU countries where the EPR for textiles has been introduced, make sure you become compliant where necessary and adapt your organization accordingly. If you are well on track for the current countries, it is no problem if other countries also introduce EPR to meet the EU textile targets. Better to be compliant from the start and expand this than to run the risk of fines and having to arrange everything at once.