Europe is a world leader in recycling, but currently only a fraction of its post-consumer textile waste is reused or valorized in some form; the rest piles up in landfills, is incinerated or moves through low-value export routes that obscure where the material ends up and who pays. In 2025, just 1.5 million tons out of 13.3 million tons of post-consumer textile waste were collected and sorted. Textile waste has grown rapidly alongside the rise of fast fashion brands. Each European consumer buys about 95 pieces of textiles annually, up 12 percent since 2019.
We show the main point publicly. Create a free account to continue reading the full article, save it, discuss it, and connect it with market and OSINT context.