TY - JOUR
T1 - Threads untangled
T2 - Regional mapping of post-consumer textile management
AU - Vermeyen, Veerle
AU - Alaerts, Luc
AU - Worrell, Ernst
AU - Van Acker, Karel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024/12
Y1 - 2024/12
N2 - In the coming decade, the EU intends to intervene in the textile value chain to steer it towards sustainability and circularity. As part of this effort, post-consumer textile (PCT) management should align with the waste hierarchy. This study employs material flow analysis (MFA) to examine and compare PCT management in two European regions: Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands. Additionally, future scenarios provide insights into transformations of PCT management toward 2030. The results show that Flanders outperformed the Netherlands in 2018, with a higher share of PCTs being collected separately, going to product recovery, local reuse, and material recovery. However, in both regions, there is still much potential to increase the recovery of products or materials. In 2018, local reuse was at only 4 % in Flanders and 2 % in the Netherlands. Most materials were still lost through incineration, with 52 % in Flanders and 62 % in the Netherlands. Even so, the future scenarios indicate that the Netherlands’ greater policy ambitions, with specific targets aimed at higher circular strategies, such as local reuse and closed-loop recycling, can result in more circular PCT management toward 2030. Hence, when designing interventions, policymakers should go beyond targets on separate collection to successfully steer the waste management of PCT toward circularity. This study shows how MFA-based monitoring provides a good overview of a specific system, allowing for a high level of transparency. Therefore, monitoring PCT management is key to developing informed policies and effective targets.
AB - In the coming decade, the EU intends to intervene in the textile value chain to steer it towards sustainability and circularity. As part of this effort, post-consumer textile (PCT) management should align with the waste hierarchy. This study employs material flow analysis (MFA) to examine and compare PCT management in two European regions: Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands. Additionally, future scenarios provide insights into transformations of PCT management toward 2030. The results show that Flanders outperformed the Netherlands in 2018, with a higher share of PCTs being collected separately, going to product recovery, local reuse, and material recovery. However, in both regions, there is still much potential to increase the recovery of products or materials. In 2018, local reuse was at only 4 % in Flanders and 2 % in the Netherlands. Most materials were still lost through incineration, with 52 % in Flanders and 62 % in the Netherlands. Even so, the future scenarios indicate that the Netherlands’ greater policy ambitions, with specific targets aimed at higher circular strategies, such as local reuse and closed-loop recycling, can result in more circular PCT management toward 2030. Hence, when designing interventions, policymakers should go beyond targets on separate collection to successfully steer the waste management of PCT toward circularity. This study shows how MFA-based monitoring provides a good overview of a specific system, allowing for a high level of transparency. Therefore, monitoring PCT management is key to developing informed policies and effective targets.
KW - Circular economy
KW - Material flow analysis
KW - Post-consumer textiles
KW - Scenario analysis
KW - Waste management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85210141885&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.clwas.2024.100181
DO - 10.1016/j.clwas.2024.100181
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85210141885
SN - 2772-9125
VL - 9
JO - Cleaner Waste Systems
JF - Cleaner Waste Systems
M1 - 100181
ER -