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Circular Economy and Waste in the Fashion Industry
Summary
This review analyses existing EU legislative measures relevant to sustainability and circular economy transitions in the fashion industry, a sector associated with high water and energy consumption, chemical pollution, and microplastic generation from textiles. The authors evaluate the EU Circular Economy Action Plan of 2015 and its revised waste framework as tools for driving systemic change in fashion industry practices.
The fashion industry has to play an important role in the path towards sustainability and the circular economy. Indeed, the fashion industry is a sector with a high environmental impact; it involves a very long and complicated supply chain, which is associated with large consumption of water and energy, use of chemical substances, water and air pollution, waste production and finally microplastic generation. In particular, textiles and clothing waste has become a huge global concern. Against this background, this paper aims at analysing the existing EU measures that have an impact on the development of sustainable practices and the transition to a circular economy in the fashion industry, with a particular focus on the EU revised legislative framework on waste adopted within the Circular Economy Action Plan of 2015.
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