The Retailer Winter Edition 2023

THE RE TA I L ER

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TRADING IN FRANCE – EPR FOR TEXTILES

James Beard Head of Recycling Services Reconomy Group Company Valpak

R economy Group company Valpak reports back on the requirements for UK busi nesses trading in France, and on what EPR for textiles might mean for the UK.

How does the French scheme work? Any business – large or small – that places clothing, shoes or household textiles onto the market is required to register for EPR, report annually, and pay a fee. In 2021, the scheme generated €52 million but, as the legislation is updated, we are likely to see costs rise. To qualify for the preferential rate in France, businesses need to prove that their products contain either 15 per cent post-consumer waste, or 30 per cent factory waste, or that they meet official durability standards. Those companies with physical stores in France are most aware of their responsibilities, but all businesses trading in France are liable. Since online marketplaces like Amazon were made accountable for non-compliant sellers on their sites, they started to ask for proof of compliance as a condition for using their services. Coupled with the introduction of a unique identification code for each product, registration for compliance has boomed. Many of Valpak’s customers operate across borders, so the international team manages compliance for UK brands operating in France and fur ther afield. Under the French model, clothing is categorised by size and type, so jeans fall into a different category from other styles of cotton trousers, and small sizes belong to different categories to larger ones. But if textiles EPR follows the path of packaging waste, no country will implement it in exactly the same way. EPR for the UK The consultation on EPR for textiles in the UK stalled in 2022, but consumer pressure and CSR goals are still driving more circular thinking. More than 110 businesses and organisations have signed up toWRAP’s voluntaryTextiles 2030 scheme, and research shows that 76.13* per cent of consumers agree that ecommerce brands should meet environmental targets set out by governments or independent regulators.

Paris is well-known for its high-end fashion designers. But France is also ahead of the game when it comes to end of life textiles. The French government was the first in the world to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles; 10 years later, other countries around the globe are following suit. Recently, Reconomy Group company Valpak travelled to Paris to learn more about the requirements for UK businesses in France, and to scope out what future UK EPR legislation might look like.

483 new fields of information.” ‘‘

To prepare for Packaging Waste EPR, Valpak’s online data systems have added

Why EPR? According to the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, just 2.1 million tonnes – around 38 per cent – of the consumer clothing and home textiles sold in Europe are collected each year for recycling or reuse. The ‘producer pays’ EPR model aims to increase recycling, by holding brands and retailers responsible for the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling waste products. Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain already have plans to follow in France’s footsteps. With the European Commission also due to publish a proposal in 2023, we can expect EPR to mushroom in coming years. EPR typically brings higher costs and a greater demand for data collection. Often, it includes eco-modulation, an escalator that offers a reduction in fees for products that are easy to recycle or which contain a significant level of recycled content. In this way, producers are given an incentive to design more durable and recyclable products.

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French Innovation Challenge winners include research into: developing recycled polyester threads from complicated waste materials using near infrared (NIR) sorting technology.”