Tackling the textile crisis at the 2025 Zero Waste Festival: from overproduction to circular solutions
2025 International Zero Waste Day shines light on the textiles crisis
The fashion industry produces an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually, with less than 1% of materials being recycled into new clothing. With the average consumer buying 60% more clothing items than 15 years ago and keeping them for half as long, the environmental impact is staggering.
On 26 and 27 March, the Zero Waste Festival in Barcelona marked 2025 International Day of Zero Waste Day with an afternoon dedicated to this year’s edition: the textiles and fashion crisis. The event brought together experts from across Europe to discuss solutions at every stage of the textile lifecycle – from production to disposal.
Because – upstream, midstream, downstream – textiles are all one stream down to communities everywhere around the world, and require comprehensive solutions rather than isolated interventions.
The scale of the problem: beyond recycling
The panel began with a sobering assessment of the textiles industry’s environmental and social footprint. Bettina Heller, Programme Officer and Textiles Lead at UN Environment Programme, outlined the multifaceted challenges, from chemical pollution and microfibre release to water consumption and labour conditions.
A key insight echoed by all speakers was that recycling alone cannot address the fundamental problems in the textiles sector. With current technology unable to effectively recycle mixed fibers at scale, focusing solely on end-of-pipe solutions diverts attention from the necessary upstream interventions.
Katia Dayan Vladimirova, Post Growth Fashion Expert and Researcher, challenged the commonly held notion that consumer choice can drive systemic change: “Consumers do not have as much agency as many policy-makers would like to believe. The responsibility cannot fall primarily on individual purchasing decisions when the system itself is designed for overproduction.”
Overproduction: the elephant in the room
Pierre Condamine, Overproduction Campaigner at Friends of the Earth France (Les Amis de la Terre), presented striking data on the fashion industry’s excessive production patterns. His presentation revealed that the primary reason for apparel disposal isn’t quality issues but rather fashion trends changing – highlighting how the industry’s business model relies on planned obsolescence.
“The fast fashion industry has created a system of ‘extrinsic obsolescence’ – clothes aren’t discarded because they’re worn out, but because they’re deemed out of style,” explained Condamine. “This deliberately accelerated fashion cycle is the cornerstone of overproduction.”
Condamine also discussed France’s pioneering anti-fast-fashion law, which includes:
- Banning advertising for fast-fashion brands;
- Implementing penalties of up to €10 per item through Extended Producer Responsibility schemes.
“Despite fierce opposition from the fast-fashion industry, these measures aim to address the root causes of textile waste, not just its symptoms,” Condamine noted.
A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the need to put responsibilities back onto producers, and enable systemic solutions. While personal consumption choices matter, the panelists agreed that policy interventions and industry transformation are essential for meaningful change.
Katia Dayan Vladimirova challenged the commonly held notion that consumer choice can drive systemic change, highlighting initiatives that other stakeholders, including cities can implement at various stages of the textile lifecycle.
Condamine reinforced this point: “Without addressing marketing practices that fuel unnecessary consumption and implementing strong producer responsibility measures, individual actions will remain insufficient to stem the tide of textile waste.”
“Cities have significant power to address fast fashion,” noted Vladimirova, pointing to Geneva’s ban on fast fashion advertising as a model policy intervention. “Creating community spaces where people can learn repair skills not only extends the life of garments but also builds new social connections and resilience.”
Building Circular textiles systems: the Catalan inspiration
Pilar Chiva, Director of the Circular Economy Department at the Catalan Waste Agency, presented a regional success story that demonstrates how collaboration can accelerate progress. She shared concerning statistics about textile waste in Catalonia:
“In 2023, we generated 155,000 tonnes of textile waste – nearly 20 kg per inhabitant. Of this, only 13.3% was collected separately, with just 19% reused locally. The vast majority ended up in landfill or were incinerated,” Chiva explained.
To address this challenge, Catalonia launched the Circular Fashion Agreement in May 2022, bringing together over 100 signatories from across the value chain in a voluntary but structured agreement with quantitative targets.
“Our collaborative approach has already yielded significant results,” said Chiva. “We’ve implemented pilot projects in ten municipalities and two counties, identified best practices for collection and reuse, and provided subsidies to support innovation in collection, reuse, and ecodesign.”
An integrated approach for the future
The session concluded with a call for integrated solutions that address the entire textile lifecycle. Policy-makers, industry leaders, and local authorities all have roles to play in transforming the fashion system into one that respects planetary boundaries.
As the textile crisis continues to grow, initiatives like the ones discussed at the Zero Waste Festival provide hope that change is possible through collaborative, multi-level approaches that target the root causes of waste.
To learn more about solutions to the textile waste crisis, explore Zero Waste Europe’s resource library on Textiles and follow the STICT project which aims to strengthen the implementation of circular textiles strategies in the EU.
We invite you to continue exploring 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. The next blog post will look at the session on Extended Producer Responsibility – watch this space!
