New EU regulation: How to really dispose of old clothes in the Emsland!

In the Emsland, new regulations for disposal of old textiles have been in effect since the beginning of the year. The new EU regulation stipulates that used textiles have to be collected separately from other waste. This is intended to promote the high -quality collection, sorting and utilization of old textiles and help to reduce the annually burned or deposited textiles, such as Noz.de reported. However, the disposal of broken clothing remains allowed in residual waste.

Intact clothing should no longer be disposed of in residual waste in order to improve the quality of the textiles collected. According to Josef Wittrock from the German Red Cross (DRK), there are often improper disposal of textiles in the Emsland. There is currently no ban on throwing in non -portable clothing into the collective containers, but these must be washed. It is pointed out that about 290 tons of textiles end up in the 80 containers of the DRK annually, with only 90,000 of which are considered useful.

new requirements in Europe

The new EU requirements that came into force from January 1, 2025 mean that in Germany over one million tons of old textiles end up in containers every year, with only about 50% of which can still be used as clothing. Ten percent of these usable textiles reach the needy directly, while the rest are re then re then marketed, outside the EU. As zdf.de , the proportion of the old textiles recorded separately in the EU is around 22%, with global estimated that under 1% Old textiles are recycled into new products.

In addition, it is discussed to introduce the "extended responsibility of the manufacturer", in which manufacturers have to pay for the collection, sorting and recycling of their products. So far, there have been such regulations for other product groups in the EU. However, the high proportions of mixed fibers in textiles represent a challenge because they make recycling difficult and many textiles have to be burned after sorting.