Europe's system for managing textile waste is under severe pressure, says a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Titled, ‘Textile Waste at a Tipping Point: Unlocking Europe's Circular Potential,’ the report notes, the collection and sorting infrastructure - the core of the system - is at a breaking point, with several key players halting operations or declaring bankruptcy.
In France, the social enterprise Le Relais stopped all textile collection in mid-2025. As a protest against underfunding, it began dumping unsorted waste outside major retail stores, warning it would not survive the year without emergency aid.
Smaller collectors are also quietly shutting down. In Germany, two major collectors, SOEX and Texaid, filed for insolvency in October 2024 and June 2025, respectively. Their downfall is a result of a collapsing export market and rising sorting costs.
The United Kingdom is also experiencing a crisis, with closures and layoffs hitting textile recyclers, including Textile Recycling International, which went into administration in early 2024. The Textile Recycling Association has warned of a "sector-wide collapse" as processing capacity vanishes and resale prices plummet.
The core of this crisis is a funding gap: eco-organizations and public authorities aren't paying enough per ton to cover operational costs. This pressure is compounded by saturated second-hand markets, waste from fast fashion, and stricter export rules. The report cautions that without immediate action, Europe's goals for textile circularity are at risk of unraveling.
Currently, only about 1 per cent of Europe's textile waste is recycled into new textiles. The rest is either reused through second-hand markets, downcycled into lower-value products like rags, turned into solid recovered fuel (SRF), or sent to landfills or incinerators.
Landfilling is expected to drop sharply by 2035 - from 26 per cent of total textile waste in 2024 to 17 per cent in 2035. This is due to regulatory and environmental pressure, including the EU Landfill Directive, which mandates a reduction in municipal waste landfilling to below 10 per cent by 2035. Many countries are now implementing landfill taxes and bans on specific products.
Reuse remains the most sustainable option, supported by charities, resale platforms, and exports. However, this ecosystem is also under strain as the European second-hand textile market slows down. The rise of ultra-fast fashion and the saturation of traditional export channels are creating a surplus of low-quality, unsellable garments. This, combined with falling resale prices and rising collection costs, is squeezing the margins of operators. Incineration, while an alternative, is still carbon-intensive and could undermine climate objectives unless paired with mitigation measures.
