Textile Has Been Listed As A High Priority In The EU'S Ecological Environment Pressure

It is estimated that the clothing, footwear and household textiles produced annually for the European region will cause about 654 kg of CO2 emissions per capita in the EU

According to the new release of the European Environment Agency, the EU uses about 1.3 tons of raw materials and more than 100 cubic meters of water for the per capita consumption of clothing, shoes and household textiles every year.

In the new content published in its "Textiles in Europe's circular economy", it called on the production and consumption of European textiles to develop towards a circular economy model on a large scale, with the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, resource use and the pressure on nature in the EU.

The study pointed out that according to the European Economic Area (EEA), the European Topic Centre on Waste and Materials in the Green Economy According to the technical report of, in 2017, the production and processing of clothing, footwear and household textiles sold in the European Union used about 1.3 tons of main raw materials and 104 cubic meters of water resources per person per year. About 85% of the materials and 92% of the water resources are used in other parts of the world.

For the consumption of water resources and the use of main raw materials, clothing, footwear and household textiles are the fourth largest consumption category in the EU, after food, housing and transportation. The report points out that the same product category is second only to food, which will cause the second biggest pressure in terms of land use, and will also cause considerable pollution of chemicals and water resources, including water washing, which causes the release of plastic microfiber, which leads to water pollution, and various negative social impacts.

It also shows that the clothing, shoes and household textiles produced for the European region every year are estimated to cause per capita carbon dioxide emissions of about 654 kg in the EU, making textiles related to private consumption the fifth largest source of carbon dioxide emissions. About 3/4 of these emissions occur outside the EU.

EEA briefing pointed out that circular economy policies and principles, such as ecological design and reuse, have the potential to reduce the impact of textile production and consumption on the environment and climate. At present, EU policy requires member states to recycle textiles by classification by 2025, and ensure that wastes collected by classification will not be incinerated or buried.

According to EEA, the textile recycling business model, such as leasing, sharing, recycling and resale, needs policy support to expand the scale and actively solve the problems of material design, production and distribution, use and reuse, recycling and recycling. This could include policies such as sustainable production and product policies, ecological design and durability standards, green public procurement, safety and sustainable materials, waste prevention, extended producer responsibility, and labeling and standards.