Historic New Measures to Reduce Food Waste, and Limit Fast Fashion

Following extensive discussions, the European Union Council adopted measures to meet food waste reduction targets and encourage a change in the textile industry and its highly destructive fast fashion trend.

“The rapidly growing e-commerce market brings many opportunities, but also represents a significant challenge, especially in terms of environmental protection,” the agreed text runs.

For the first time in its history, the EU set legally binding targets for member states to curb food waste. To that end, lawmakers agreed to a 30% cut across retailers, restaurants, caterers, and households by 2030. It is estimated that yearly, more than 59 million tons of food end up in the trash, representing a $143 million loss. Based on how circular and sustainable their products are, textile producers and fashion brands must pay a fee to help fund waste collection, sorting, and recycling. Based on the durability of garments, these fees can be adapted to target ‘fast fashion’ practices directly, such as cheap, almost disposable clothes from online platforms. The legislation stipulates that such practices ” likely result in an overconsumption of textile products and, consequently, an overgeneration of waste”.