This briefing is underpinned by a report from the European Environment Agency’s European Topic Centre on Circular Economy and Resource Use (ETC CE). The report is largely based upon information derived from a questionnaire completed by 27 of the European Environment Agency’s member countries in 2023[1].
The generation, composition, and sources of textile waste
The EU-27 generated an estimated total of 6.95 million tonnes of textile waste in 2020 — around 16kg per person. Of this, 4.4kg per person were collected separately for reuse and recycling, and 11.6kg per person ended up in mixed household waste.
Figure 1…
