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27 countries in the E.U have now banned textile waste from brands while encouraging textile recycling for a more sustainable industry.
One unsustainable aspect of the fashion industry you may have heard a lot about over the last few years is waste. According to the CFDA, 92 million tons of textile waste are created yearly. One reason behind this is that as production continually increases, brands are often left with unsold garments that they trash or incinerate as they race to present the next trend. This unsustainable path of take, make, waste has caught the attention of Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, who stated in 2025, “We need to focus on a circular economy approach that values sustainable production, reuse, and repair.” In response, the European Commission is adopting new rules to curb textile waste, increase textile waste recycling, and hold the fashion industry responsible.
The basic premise is: Thanks to fast fashion, brands produce an unprecedented number of garments, more than any generation before us, and most of them go to landfills. In fact, out of the 100+ billion garments made yearly, 101 million tons of textiles will end up in landfills within 12 months. And, some of these textiles haven’t even been worn. In Europe, the waste of unsold textiles generates around 5.6 million tons of CO2 emissions.
Now, the European Union is stepping in with a bold move: a ban on destroying unsold clothes. This rule, part of a bigger push for circularity, will hit fast fashion giants the hardest, prohibiting the burning or trashing of leftover garments and textiles. As part of other regulations, laws like this have the potential to drastically reduce the industry’s millions of tons of textile waste and its ricochet of negative environmental impacts.
What is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation?
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) went into effect in July 2024. It aimed to “significantly improve the sustainability of products placed on the EU market by improving their circularity, energy performance, recyclability, and durability” by establishing a framework of ecodesign requirements on specific product groups. Several of these requirements include:
- Improving products’ durability and repairability
- Increasing recycled content
- Setting rules on carbon and environmental footprints
- Limiting the generation of waste.
Limiting waste became a new target of the bill, and in February 2026, another provision was added to ban brands from incinerating or trashing unsold garments to minimize waste. Tying into the EU’s Green Deal and plans to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050, this regulation targets textile waste emissions by banning the destruction of unsold textiles. For 2026, the ban will go into effect for textiles, with other items- shoes, and home items like curtains and towels- going into effect by 2030.
Beginning this year, brands cannot simply shred or burn excess stock. They must find ways to conserve waste, recycle textiles, and rethink their manufacturing cycle to include a product’s end-of-life. Instead of dumping unsold stock into landfills, companies are required to follow a clear outline. First, they must reuse items through sales or donations, next comes repair to fix minor flaws, and then recycling to turn old fabrics into new ones.
To ensure that these regulations are met, EU watchdogs will track compliance through audits and reports, while national agencies will handle checks at borders and in stores. If brands are found to violate any of the requirements, fines could hit millions for bigger brands, while small businesses face scaled-down penalties. But everyone must report on their yearly waste habits.
Why Banning Textile Waste Is Necessary
The current fashion cycle moves at a breakneck speed that results in the depletion of natural resources, the accumulation of waste, and the generation of millions of tons of greenhouse gases. Reports show European fashion companies destroyed unsold clothes valued at 4 billion euros in 2019 alone; that’s enough fabric to wrap around the Earth twice. Without change, projections predict waste to double by 2030.
One method to destroy old clothes is to burn them in an incinerator. But with hundreds of chemicals used on clothing, this method is toxic to our health. Studies have shown that plastic-based garments (polyester, spandex, or nylon) release dioxins, a group of highly toxic, persistent pollutants that are carcinogenic, into the air. Other reports have shown kilns where old stock is burned to release toxins linked to lung infections. In fact, any chemical used in clothing, whether it’s to preserve dyes, keep wrinkles at bay, or make the garment waterproof, is released into the air we breathe when burned.
Even clothes that sit in landfills are releasing toxins and chemicals into the soil, groundwater, and the air. Formaldehyde, phthalates, heavy metals, and dyes are all chemicals used in clothing that are linked to adverse health effects and leach into the soil and water when clothes are left to slowly decompose in landfills.
Workers who come in direct contact with these clothing items, either at landfill or incineration sites, are most vulnerable, with communities in proximity to these sites second. And, because pollution travels through the air and precipitation, particulate matter and toxins from one landfill site can spread across the globe, exposing anyone to toxins that can enter the bloodstream and impact major organs.
Landfills hurt everyone. They pollute our soil and air, affecting our health for years. Bans such as the ESPR aim to reverse that trend now.
Some brands have already taken active steps to adopt more circular practices and reduce landfill waste. H&M pledged in 2017 to phase out destruction, opting for resale instead. Burberry quit burning stock after public outcry in 2018. And, groups like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation have been pushing brands towards circular economy ideas for years. These steps show the industry can adapt to change. Now, the law makes it mandatory to change wasteful habits and adopt more sustainable solutions.