RECYCLING
There are now 47,406 voluntary drop-off points for waste clothing, household linen and footwear across France. Refashion
Extended Producer
RESPONSIBILITY IN ACTION France Points to the Future for the European Union and Recycling By Adrian Wilson, International Correspondent, IFJ
20 IFJ ISSUE 6 2023
I
t’s no accident that there is currently so much activity related to recycling textile waste and the production of regenerated fibers currently being announced in France. The country has had an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for waste clothing, household linen and footwear (CHF) in operation since 2008, under which manufacturers pay annual fees for its collection and sorting. The European Commission’s Textiles Strategy is mandating the separate
collection of waste CHF Europe-wide from 2025, so it’s interesting to note what progress has been made in France to date. The first thing to say is that the scheme is extremely complex, with so many companies and institutions involved, so many factors that have to be taken into account and the complicated calculations that are necessary, and in many cases have to be approximated. There are, for instance, now 47,406 voluntary CHF drop-off points which are being overseen by 583 local authorities across France, and 67 separate sorting
