The Australian Fashion Council (AFC) has been awarded a $1 million grant to lead Australia's Product Stewardship Scheme to create clothing circularity and reduce textile waste.
The grant comes after the first National Clothing Textile Waste Roundtable, which found that 800,000 tonnes of textile waste ends up in Australian landfill each year.
The initiative will see the AFC lead a consortium of industry disruptors, brands, manufacturers, retailers, reuse charities, fibre producers, academics and waste management companies to create Australia’s first National Product Stewardship Scheme for clothing textiles.
The program aims to improve the design, recovery, reuse and recycling of textiles, providing a roadmap to 2030 for clothing circularity in Australia in line with National Waste Policy Action Plan targets.
Acting AFC CEO Kellie Hush welcomed the launch of the Scheme.
"We have long needed an industry-led solution that actively involves all key stakeholders, defines their responsibility and provides clear action to achieve a circular clothing economy.
"Everyone has a responsibility to make and buy better.
"This Scheme is critical to creating a sustainable textile industry in Australia, and in turn will also create significant opportunities to drive innovation, better business and the creation of new jobs and skill sets for Australians.
"We will learn from best global practices and partner with peak bodies and organisations with existing programs to create a multi-stakeholder roadmap towards clothing circularity in Australia by 2030.
"Each business and organisation with a touchpoint in both the supply chain and product life cycle must recognise their responsibility and actively contribute to textile circularity and reduction of waste," she said.
The Textile Waste roundtable found that Australians are the second highest consumers of textiles per person in the world, following the USA.
On average, Australians accumulate 27 kilograms of textiles per person and discard around 23 kilograms every year.
Federal Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said despite being the second highest consumers of clothing and textiles in the world, only 7% of clothing in Australia is recycled.
"Like the paper, metal, glass and plastic we recycle every week, clothing and textile waste is an unrealised resource and we have a growing opportunity to use it wisely.
"We want this scheme to better protect the environment by creating clothing in a more thoughtful manner, designing for durability, designing for less waste and choosing fibres for future recyclability," she said.
The AFC will work with Charitable Recycling Australia, Queensland University of Technology, Sustainable Resource Use and WRAP to identify, educate, empower and activate all stakeholders to better manage and improve environmental and human impacts of their product and materials.
The outcome-oriented and measurable action plan towards a circular system will address four action points on the Minister’s Priority List 21-22.
Launching this month and ending in March 2023, the Scheme will be delivered in three key stages and will include:
- Data/Material Flow Analysis report: Identifying data requirements, data sources, data gaps, and making recommendations on how these may be filled.
- Global Scan report: A robust analysis of global initiatives promoting circularity in clothing textiles, including systems, policies, technologies, and infrastructure.
- Scheme Recommendation report: The final report of all analyses and recommendations on sustainable improvements based on the finalised Scheme design, essentially the ‘business plan’.
- Roadmap to 2030: Including a review at 2024 in preparation for meeting the Minister’s Priority List targets for 2025 for Actions 1, 3 and 4.
Other collaboration organisations involved in the project include the Australian Retailers Association, Australian Council of Recycling, National Retail Association, Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association Australia.
The AFC will share updates on the Scheme on its website and has opened expressions of interest on its site, for businesses and organisations to be involved.