Every year, in the European Union, millions of new items of clothing end up destroyed without ever having been worn. An absurdity that costs the planet around 5.6 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year – an amount comparable to the entire carbon footprint of Sweden. But now Brussels has finally decided to stop this practice with clear and binding rules.
The problem of unsold clothes
According to European Commission estimates, between 4 and 9% of unsold textiles are eliminated before they even reach consumers. However, behind every destroyed item there is also completely wasted water, energy, raw materials and work. It is therefore not just about clothes, but also about natural resources consumed in vain in a historical moment in which the climate emergency requires a radical change of direction.
The phenomenon involves both the overproduction typical of fast fashion and the e-commerce boom. In Germany, for example, almost 20 million items returned by online customers are disposed of every year instead of going back on sale. While in France, unsold products worth 630 million euros end up in the bin every year.
The new rules
With the adoption of the delegated and implementing acts of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the European Commission has introduced concrete measures to reverse the trend. From 19 July 2026, large fashion companies operating in the EU will no longer be able to freely destroy unsold clothing, accessories and footwear. Medium-sized companies, however, will have time to adapt until 2030.
Destruction will only be permitted in exceptional and justified circumstances: damaged products, security reasons or other specific situations that will be monitored by national authorities. In all other cases, companies will have to find sustainable alternatives.
In addition to the ban, comes the obligation of transparency. Large companies will be required to report the volumes of unsold consumer goods they dispose of, while for medium-sized companies this obligation will also start from 2030. The Commission has introduced a standardized format to facilitate this reporting, which will come into force in February 2027.
The objective of the new regulation is twofold: on the one hand to monitor the actual extent of the phenomenon, on the other to push companies to rethink their production and distribution models.
Towards a circular textile industry
The new rules encourage companies to manage stocks more efficiently and to explore alternative routes to destruction: resale, reconditioning, donation, reuse. This is a change in mentality that rewards those who truly invest in sustainability and creates fairer competition conditions in the market.
The textile sector is at the forefront of the transition towards sustainability, but there are still challenges. The data on waste shows the need for action – said Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for the Environment – With these new measures, the textile sector will be strengthened to move towards sustainable and circular practices, and we will be able to increase our competitiveness and reduce our dependencies
The ESPR aims to make products on the European market more durable, reusable and recyclable, increasing the efficiency and circularity of the entire system.
Obviously, these rules alone do not solve all the problems of the fashion industry, but they represent an important political signal. The era of legalized waste is ending. Companies that continue to produce in excess will have to take responsibility for managing what they do not sell in a sustainable way, without passing the environmental cost on to the community.
Because every item produced has weight and must have a life, it cannot be treated as planned waste. The time has come to rethink the fashion system from the inside, producing less but better.
