Ecodesign and textile Epr, companies to the test of European regulations

Obligations to be fulfilled, but also opportunities to be seized. This is the case with European standards such as the Ecodesign regulation (Espr) and the revision of the waste directive that will introduce Extended Producer Responsibility also in the textile sector.

Companies are adapting at different speeds. One of the most advanced in this sense is Gruppo Mastrotto, a leader in the treatment of bovine hides: 'Leather is perhaps the oldest circular material of mankind, since it derives from the waste of the food industry,' recalled Chiara Mastrotto, president of Gruppo Mastrotto. 'However, today it must be designed by involving all stages of the supply chain and thinking about its entire life cycle. For our part, we are committed to producing by reducing the use of resources and emissions and using Life Cycle Assessment to measure and improve environmental impact in a scientific and transparent manner. Brands should also be involved, with Tod's we have developed a shoe model according to Ecodesign criteria'.

Many SMEs, however, still need support in this transition process, and this is one of the reasons why the Trick platform has been developed, to trace the entire path of a garment via blockchain, from raw material to end-of-life: 'We have involved more than 30 European partners,' said Gessica Ciaccio, researcher at ENEA's Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources Department, 'to create a platform that offers companies ready-to-use tools and solutions for collecting data, an activity that can be very complex and costly. It is a crucial step towards the adoption of the digital passport envisaged by Espr'.

In this context, the proper management of textile waste is also crucial, in which Italy is theoretically in the vanguard: separate collection is mandatory as early as 2022, three years before the European obligation triggered in 2025. In the post-consumer sector, it is about 172 thousand tonnes in 2023, up from 160 in 2022, equal to 2.9 kg per inhabitant, a quantity that is still very low: "Lowering the collection rate is also the flourishing of the second hand," said Lucia Muto, head of the economic instruments area of Ispra's National Centre for Waste and Circular Economy. Citizens must in any case be put in the best possible position to deliver this type of waste".

The separate collection of textiles is the first step towards the implementation of the circularity process through recycling consortia (which, however, are waiting for an inter-ministerial decree in order to be able to function at full speed): "About 50% of textile waste has hope of reuse, the rest is destined for recycling or waste-to-energy plants," noted Giuliano Maddalena, CEO of the Safe Group, the hub of recycling consortia, "and even in the end-of-life of the product the supply chain is very long: the key is its control. According to Maddalena, 'in the textile industry, recycling processes are much more complex than, for example, in the metal industry' and the consortia (Safe is in charge of the operations of Retex.Green and Re.Crea) are currently working on pilot projects and experiments: 'We are following many projects, from smocks that become buttons to workwear transformed into blankets.