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Friday, January 31, 2025

Segregation of clothes 2025. “Nobody looked at the consequences”

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We say that consumers, according to the regulations, should take care of segregation, but they need to know how to deal with segregation – said Agata Rudnicka from the University of Lodz, asked about a new obligation to deliver clothes to local municipal waste collection points. The change in the regulations in this case came in at the beginning of January.

– Adding another fraction to the segregation system without education and without the social awareness that this is a necessity will not cause that we will suddenly start strictly complying with the regulations. There will be a risk of an additional environment for the environment – wild dumps or further redirection of textiles to landfills in mixed waste – says Dr. Agata Rudnicka, an expert from the Faculty of Management at the University of Lodz.

It is about regulations that from January 1, 2025 introduced the obligation to selectively collect textiles and clothing. This is the task of municipalities, which is implemented as part of selective municipal waste collection points (PSZOK). Each commune is obliged to establish at least one such point in its area.

“Textile waste is a serious problem”

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An expert from the Faculty of Management at the University of Lodz admitted in a conversation that while the very idea of ​​segregating and developing garbage is important and needed, because textile waste is a serious problem on a global scale, it is a way in which segregation was organized, raises doubts, and the system from the logistics side He was not either thought out or prepared as it should. She also emphasized that a large educational campaign was needed.

– The consumer does not quite know how to do with such waste (textile – ed.), He is deprived of convenient places where he could leave waste, he needs time to understand the weight of the issue – explained Rudnicka.

She pointed out that around a simple – seemingly – matter of selecting a specific waste fraction, there are a lot of question marks.

The provisions obliging to segregate textile waste do not provide, for example, additional containers for textile waste, which would make it easier to separate this fraction, as it happened before with plastic, paper or glass.

Where the textiles are thrown out

The system is to work so that the textile user should collect waste at home after using them. He cannot throw them into the bucket on mixed waste, under the threat of higher fees for the lack of proper segregation of garbage. Then take them to PSZOK (Selective Municipal Waste Collection Point).

This hinders segregation, raises resistance by secreting an additional fraction and raises threats that an expert mentioned – that either textile waste will go to a collective container or – if the municipalities begin to impose penalties for their improper segregation, they will go to publicly available dustbins in cities, and be Maybe also for wild dumps in parks and forests.

– Information on the need to segregate the next waste fraction has not met with the enthusiasm of society. It is also difficult to talk about good preparation of local governments in the sphere of disseminating information about why it is important and needed. There is also a problem of availability of infrastructure and waste collection places – said the expert.

She added that before the obligation to segregate textiles was introduced, it was worth taking a few steps ahead, making and making life easier for people to now observe with calmly whether the system works or not and how to improve it. According to the expert, there was no information campaign why segregation is so important, what is happening with waste while we no longer need it, whether it will go to the landfill or maybe it will be used again.

– This is a system of connected vessels. We say that consumers, according to the regulations, should take care of segregation, but they need to know how to deal with segregation. As consumers, it may be difficult for us to find the answer to the question, what textiles are suitable for segregation, and what not and what are textiles at all. A large educational campaign is needed on this topic – said the expert.

“The data leave no illusions”

She added that the essence is the cooperation of all parties. On the manufacturers' side is involved in so that raw materials are more environmentally friendly, durable and recyclable. In turn, you can expect more responsible use of clothes from consumers. An element closing the circulation would be plants where clothing could be converted and repaired with a view to extending her life and regaining the raw material for reuse. This would require new patterns and habits.

– The very idea of ​​segregation, although important, will not answer the need for sustainable transformation in the textile industry both on a national and globally scale. The data leave no illusions. The reuse of used resources is only 0.3 percent. raw materials with a consumption of 3.25 billion tons of resources for the needs of the textile industry a year – commented Rudnicka, citing data from global reports.

She added that the textile industry itself is not environmentally friendly for many reasons. Production shows a high demand for water and chemicals (including fabric coloring), high emissions of pollution or production waste, not to mention the exposure of people employed in the textile industry to breaking the basic human rights.

Rudnicka estimated that investigating a balanced textile market would be a long -lasting process.

– I think that the pressure of the regulator and the environment will make us have more and more companies and more and more technologies to recover textiles for industry. For now, however, it is difficult to talk about the scale of waste to be reused, taking into account technical or quality parameters. Hypothetically several dozen percent of textile waste is suitable for re -processing, but the practice shows that this is a marginal size – said the expert.

“It seems that no one has looked at the consequences”

She admitted that the reluctance from consumers themselves to segregate textile waste was disturbing; In her opinion, this should mobilize the authorities to such a selective organization of their collection that users naturally join this process.

– I think we agree that the logistics system has not been either thought out or prepared as it should. The regulations were implemented because there was a moment when you have to do it, but the segregation and processing of waste should be looked long -term. Nobody seems to look at the consequences. We do not know what a potential load for the environment will be, how many waste will go to the system, and how many textiles and how often people will throw away with other rubbish, or simply toss or get rid of them in random places, additionally polluting the environment. I think that the entire waste management system requires a deeper analysis – said Rudnicka.

She added that when introducing new pro -ecological regulations, you should use such a way of communication that causes people to get involved not only because you need to comply with new regulations and fears of punishment (higher waste fees in the absence of garbage selection), but that they feel sure Comfort associated with this action.

– We should feel that we have the support of the authorities, e.g. easy access to containers in close proximity, and segregation itself is a natural activity, not forced action. All hope in developing this idea, i.e. the expansion of the logistics system, which will cause the ease of getting rid of waste and thus we will be happy to sort it – summed up Dr. Agata Rudnicka.

What is one of the textiles

Textiles include all things made of fabric or knitwear, regardless of whether they are of natural or artificial origin. They are not just clothes.

You should mention: various types of cloths, curtains, curtains, blankets, bedding, bags, shoes and car upholstery.

What is included in the textile wasteMinistry of Climate and Environment

Source of the main photo: Grand Warszawski/Shutterstock



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