Collecting and recycling textiles (UPV)

Do you produce textile products? You are responsible for your products when they are discarded. You must organise and fund the waste management of your products. This is called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

EPR applies to the party that first markets a product in the Netherlands. This party can be a producer or manufacturer, as well as an importer. Other parties in the sales or waste chain may also have responsibilities, such as distributors (including retail). If you are a foreign producer supplying directly to consumers, you must appoint an authorised representative in the Netherlands.

The EPR for textiles applies to:

• clothing, including work and industrial clothing
• bed and table linen
• household linen, such as (hand) towels and tea towels

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) textiles

Does the EPR (Uitgebreide Producentenverantwoordelijkheid, UPV) for textiles apply to you? Then you must make sure the discarded products are:

• collected with a suitable collection system. This system must be free and you must inform your customers
• recycled for use in the production of new textile products whenever possible
• processed using the most sustainable technologies if reusing is impossible

You can collect, reuse, or process discarded textile products independently or you can join an organisation of producers. Currently there are 2 producer organisations: Stichting UPV Textiel (in Dutch) and European Recycling Platform Netherlands B.V..

If you only sell second-hand textile products, the UPV does not apply to you.

Targets for reuse and recycling

The minimum threshold for the reuse and recycling of textile products will increase over time:

• By 2025 you must prepare 50% of the previous year’s total weight sold for reuse or recycling. Of this percentage, at least 20% must be reused and at least 10% must be reused in the Netherlands.
• By 2030 you must prepare 75% of the previous year’s total weight sold for reuse or recycling. Of which at least 25% must be reused and at least 15% must be reused in the Netherlands.
• By 2025, 25% of all textile fibres of discarded textile products must be used in materials for new products (fibre-to-fibre recycling). By 2030 this must be 33% of all textile fibres.

Annual reporting

If the extended producer responsibility for textiles applies to you, you must report to Rijkswaterstaat (in Dutch) each year before 1 August. In this report you state the number of products you brought to market in the previous year and how you have met the EPR. You can report individually or your producer organisation can do this.