Weaving change: the 2025 Zero Waste Festival and the ZWE network’s contributions to the UN International Day of Zero Waste
Our society and planet are at a defining moment in our collective zero waste journey.
In a moment where the urgency of the environmental crisis is being pushed aside by narratives on competitiveness, industrialisation, and political uncertainty, it is easy to fall into a mindset of feeling like there is no alternative.
The fact remains that the world – and Europe – have a huge waste challenge to overcome, regardless of contrarian narratives. At the same time, zero waste ambitions are not going anywhere. There are plenty of solutions being implemented across many regions, plenty of success stories, and plenty of examples of the collective power of change.
But how can we better show that zero waste efforts are thriving and impactful? How can we make them more visible on a broader scale?
Can a Zero Waste Day help us get closer to a zero waste planet and society?
Created by the United Nations in 2022, the UN International Day of Zero Waste Day “highlights the importance of sustainable waste management and the urgent need to transition towards a circular economy”.
At Zero Waste Europe, we know that the current situation feels gloomy. Yet, in times of increasing darkness, we feel an even greater duty to keep being a source of light. We want to cut through the pessimism and skepticism by highlighting practical, effective zero waste approaches already being implemented across communities worldwide; and showing that a thriving and just future for people and the planet is possible.
An internationally observed zero waste day is much more than a hook date on a calendar. For us, it’s another big opportunity for society to focus on the power and benefits of a zero waste approach, and follow its lead.
Why a thematic focus on textiles?
Official UNEP posted for the 2025 UN International Day of Zero Waste. Image credits: UNEP.
The global fashion industry has seen unprecedented growth in recent decades.
Global fibre production has more than doubled since the start of the millennium, with fossil-derived synthetic fibres representing the largest share of fibres produced today. This development has led to a significant waste challenge. In Europe, the average EU citizen discards 16 kg of textile waste each year — which led to a total of 6.95 million tonnes in 2020. The average capture rate of textile waste is only 12%, while the remainder flows into mixed municipal waste and is either landfilled or incinerated. Moreover, only 1% of used clothes are recycled.
From 1 January 2025, municipalities must set up separate collection systems for textiles. Yet the costs to expand and manage these systems will not come until 2028, when EU Member States are mandated to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles. This is leading to a crisis in capacity and funding for the social enterprises and municipalities currently tasked with trying to manage the ever-increasing volume of non-reusable and non-recyclable textiles flooding the market.
Even if waste is collected separately, sorting capacity is insufficient to handle this volume. The European reuse market is so saturated that many used textiles are exported with uncertain fate; in the meantime, recycling is still technically difficult and unavailable at scale. This demands decisive action in the production and consumption systems.
A focus on textile waste, thus, is more critical than ever – and not only were textiles and fashion the thematic focus of the 2025 UN International Day of Zero Waste, but they were also heavily present in this year’s edition of the Zero Waste Festival.
Hope comes from the ground – the 2025 Zero Waste Festival in Barcelona
This year’s observance has been particularly special, as we aligned the Zero Waste Festival in Barcelona with the UN International Day of Zero Waste, creating a powerful combination of global vision and local action.
Held on 26-27 March, the Festival celebrated ambitious zero waste thinkers and implementers, impactful practices, and lasting change. Co-organised by Rezero and Zero Waste Europe, and one of the UN International Day of Zero Waste’s flagship events of this year, the event gathered 372 participants from all over Europe.
Video message from EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, at the opening session of the 2025 Zero Waste Festival in Barcelona.
The focus on textiles was, indeed, very present in the Festival’s programme, from a dedicated session on strategies for textile sufficiency, prevention, and reuse; to a detailed presentation on the Collectief Circulair Textiel, the first-ever NGO-led Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for textiles; to success stories from sustainable fashion businesses.
“Textiles and fashion is a sector which is very waste-intensive, and we’ve been having really inspiring discussions about it today.”, remarked UNEP’s Textile Lead Bettina Heller at the Zero Waste Festival in Barcelona. “I would like to invite all of you to take some action around this day, but also throughout the year, to make sure we do not produce waste in the first place, to change consumption and production patterns, to change business models, and to engage in a different, more sustainable way with textiles”.
There were, of course, many other topics present at the Zero Waste Festival. From inspiring discussions about reuse and toxic-free products to ways to how cities and municipalities are leading the way on zero waste efforts; knowledge-sharing workshops on reuse at events and e-commerce waste; and celebratory moments of zero waste pioneers, the Festival’s two days reinforced zero waste as not only the right approach but an inevitable one.
The cities and businesses in the Mission Zero Academy Zero Waste Certification programmes also took the stage to jointly celebrate their journeys and achievements. The certification systems for both cities and businesses have been set to outline the steps and the actions to reach state-of-the-art zero waste performance, and the organisations in the systems are true champions of zero waste transformations.
Image highlights from the 2025 Zero Waste Festival. Click on the images to enlarge them. Photo credits: Zero Waste Europe, 2025.
ZWE members across Europe observe the UN International Day of Zero Waste
Alongside the Zero Waste Festival, many moments across the Zero Waste Europe network were dedicated to the UN International Day of Zero Waste and its 2025 focus on textiles.
In Ireland, VOICE published a powerful article on how the Global North exports low-quality textile waste to the Global South under the pretext of reuse. This practice, known as waste colonialism, causes environmental degradation, health hazards, and economic hardship in countries like Ghana. Local workers face debt and toxic conditions while municipalities struggle with the fallout. The article calls for systemic change, including Extended Producer Responsibility and support for African-led circular fashion solutions. The article was published on Fabric of change, the website of a VOICE project raising awareness of the harms of fast fashion while envisioning a sustainable alternative. It offers tips, guides, and testimonies to inspire a healthier, fairer industry for people and the planet.
In France, Zero Waste France joined the Stop Fast-Fashion mobilisation alongside Max Havelaar, Friends of the Earth, ActionAid, Fashion Revolution, and many others. The coalition is pushing for the final adoption of an ambitious anti-fast fashion law currently under review by the French Parliament.
In Slovenia, Ekologi Brez Meja presented the STICT project, focused on preventing textile waste and improving its management in Saku (Estonia), Brussels and Bled (Slovenia) to implement best practice models on textile waste prevention and management and development of EPR schemes for textiles. The launch featured a community event and clothing swap moment in Bled to raise awareness and encourage sustainable consumption.
In Italy, on 15-30 March, Zero Waste Italy aggregated nationwide initiatives celebrating the UN International Day of Zero Waste. Highlights included clean-ups, textile-focused workshops, and a major conference in Camerano. The events also included book launches, swap parties, exhibitions, and hybrid discussions in Brussels – all promoting circular practices and waste reduction.
In Croatia, on 26 March, Zelena Akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia organised a Swap Party in Zagreb to encourage people to exchange unwanted clothes in a friendly setting and promote reuse over waste.
In the Netherlands, Collectief Circulair Textiel continued working as the first NGO-led PRO organisation. Founded by the Fair Resource Foundation and built on years of EPR experience, CCT aims to improve governance and transparency in textile recycling. It proves that producer responsibility can go beyond cost-cutting to drive real environmental and social impact.
ZWE’s roadmap for textile waste
ZWE’s work on textiles goes beyond our contributions to the 2025 International Day of Zero Waste.
We will actively play a role in making best practices more widely known and implemented locally in the coming months and years. We aim to equip municipalities with the tools and knowledge to drastically improve their local systems and move towards prioritising reuse over recycling and disposal. Furthermore, alongside improved textile (waste) management, we will continue working on sufficiency in the textiles and fashion sectors.
We will also collaborate with our network of national member organisations to help influence the ongoing shaping of future EPR schemes in the EU, helping ensure that a more diverse group of stakeholders governs them. Likewise, we will work to make EPR schemes more progressive in their goals to reduce waste and protect the existing work done by many social enterprises.
In addition to this, ZWE is launching a brand new project to bring solutions to the forefront of the local and national decision-makers’ and policy-makers’ agendas. Together with our partners from municipalities and civil society in three EU countries, we are starting the 2-year project ‘Strengthening the Implementation of Circular Textiles Strategies in the EU’ (STICT). A 2-year project coordinated by ZWE, the STICT project is funded by the Laudes Foundation and supports best practices on separate textile collection. We do this by empowering municipalities to lead change in their communities, helping reduce the volume of textile waste generated while ensuring collected textiles are properly managed for reuse and recycling. It also remains central that diverse perspectives are considered when shaping EPR schemes to make them a tool contributing to waste prevention.
➜ Learn more about ZWE’s work on textiles.
Weaving the future
As we reflect on the convergence of the UN International Day of Zero Waste and the Zero Waste Festival Barcelona in 2025, we’re assured that the path to a zero waste future is both needed and achievable.
In these challenging times, these celebrations and initiatives are hopeful reminders that alternatives exist, solutions are being implemented, and we are weaving a fairer future together. The fabric of change is in our hands. The pattern we create will shape generations to come.
We invite you to explore how the 2025 Zero Waste Festival defined itself as a must-go event on sufficiency, wellbeing, and resilience for all through our special blog post series throughout April. Watch this space for the following chapters!