France is one of four EU countries seeking legislation that would allow for additional taxes on clothing companies that employ cheap “fast fashion” marketing tactics.
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Austria, Finland, France and the Netherlands have urged EU member states to back tougher measures to crack down on the wasteful trend of cheap, disposable clothing, allowing governments to tax companies whose marketing tactics promote “fast fashion” consumption.
The discussion document, seen by Euronews, was circulated to country representatives ahead of a summit on June 17, when environment ministers are due to adopt positions on proposals to limit textile and food waste through amendments to the Waste Framework Directive (WFD).
“While per capita textile consumption in Europe has increased dramatically in recent years, the average number of times people use their clothes has decreased,” the joint statement said. “Studies estimate that some consumers throw away cheap clothing after only wearing it seven or eight times.”
The report cites estimates that clothing sales doubled to 100 billion pieces per year between 2000 and 2015. This reflects a huge waste of resources and a situation in which the apparel industry is responsible for a fifth of the world’s water pollution and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, which are expected to increase by more than a quarter by 2050 if current trends continue.
The countries are calling on Europe to “seize the opportunity” of ongoing reforms to EU waste prevention law and ecodesign rules adopted last month to introduce concrete measures into EU law to combat ultra-fast fashion commercial practices.
Ecodesign focuses on making products more durable and repairable, but France and its partners noted in the report that recent studies show that only about a third of clothing is discarded due to wear and tear.
Four EU member states have proposed last-minute amendments to the proposed Waste Framework Directive, calling for the impact of “fast fashion” marketing tactics to be specifically recognised in extended producer responsibility schemes aimed at making companies pay the costs of the pollution they cause.
“Member states could require producer responsibility organizations to use EPR fee adjustments based on the external durability of products, such as the number of textile products put on the market, the frequency of renewal of textile collections, or thresholds for the amount of products per collection,” they suggest.
Theresa Mohsen, a policy officer and environmental activist at the Brussels-based NGO Zero Waste Europe, described the joint statement and upcoming EU Council vote as a “pivotal moment” in the fight against waste textiles and resource depletion.
“These countries are leading the way in addressing the heart of the crisis: the sheer volume of textile products flooding the market,” Mohsen said. “They must uphold the polluter pays principle and shift the focus from just managing waste to holding producers accountable.”
Paris is currently drafting national legislation to rein in the practices of Chinese clothing retailers Shein and Temu, whose rapid growth has brought them under tough digital services rules that apply to online platforms with more than 45 million monthly users in the EU.
A bill passed by the French lower house of parliament in a rare unanimous vote in March would raise a tax of up to €5 on the environmental footprint of each fast fashion item sold to €10 by 2030. The bill also bans direct and indirect marketing of such products, including the use of influencers.
The European Parliament has already taken a tough stance on the proposed changes to the waste directive, and even if the Council takes a joint position this month, final negotiations on EU law are unlikely to begin before September.
