End-of-Waste Criteria for Recycling

Enabling the European secondary raw materials single market for textiles

The revision of the Waste Framework Directive establishes the implementation of extended producer responsibility for textiles as well as the development of end-of-waste criteria for fit for reuse and recycled textiles. Recycled content targets are being considered within the framework of the ecodesign delegated act for textiles to enhance the recycling of textile waste.

While these initiatives will help scale up recycling capacity, it is essential to ensure their coherence and support growth under a unified European vision, guided by the forthcoming Circular Economy Act. This coordinated approach will create the necessary conditions to develop a single market for textile secondary raw materials.

We need one Circular Economy (CEA) and not 27 different ones. EuroCommerce supports this new initiative to address barriers to circular business models, create a well-functioning market for secondary raw materials and establish a Single Market for Waste.

In this context, transferring secondary raw materials from all Member States to the specific locations of the recycling plants in a competitive manner, avoiding administrative burdens and associated costs to the movement of waste, will be essential. Defining end-of-waste (EoW) criteria for textiles will be crucial to ensure “ready-to-use” materials are not treated as waste.

In light of the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) draft technical proposals on Developing EU-wide-End-of-Waste criteria for textile waste (February 2025), EuroCommerce would like to share our recommendations on granting EoW status for textiles when the material is ready for recycling.