On 10 July 2023, Re-Fashion, the French Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), represented by Ms Véronique Allaire Spitzer, took centre stage during the second instalment of a webinar series powered by GFA and co-organised by EURATEX, EuRIC, and Policy Hub-Circularity for Apparel and Footwear. The event aimed to present the French EPR scheme in a bid to foster collaboration and harmonisation of EPR schemes across the EU as well as to inspire other Member States currently undergoing the development of their own EPR schemes. The webinar gathered over 70 people online, including policymakers, industry stakeholders, and Member State representatives.

During the webinar, Re-Fashion provided valuable insights into the French EPR scheme and their initial considerations on the recently published revision of the Waste Framework Directive. Explore the key takeaways from the session below.

• Re-Fashion is a PRO that was created in 2008 to provide an answer to the French Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law for the Clothing, household Linen and Footwear industry (CHF). In 2023 it reached 6500 members.
• In its 2023-2028 roadmap, Re-fashion has set itself targets on: 1) regeneration (developing resource circularity by complementing fundings and calls for tenders), 2) manufacturing (produce less, better and reduce impact) and, 3) consumption (by encouraging responsible use and purchasing practices). To implement this roadmap, 1.2 billion euros will be invested between 2023 and 2028. This amount will be entirely based on the eco-fees paid by operators placing products on the market.
• More concretely, Re-Fashion will aim at driving progress with objectives across the stages of a products lifecycle in the following way:
  • Regeneration: collect 60% of the products placed on the market (versus 34% in 2021), dedicate higher resources to R&D (58 million in the period 2022-2028), recycle 80% of non-reusable textiles and footwear in 2028 and sort 99.5%.
  • Manufacturing: modulate eco-fees based on durability, environmental labels, and incorporation of recycled material bonuses.
  • Consumption: at least 2% of total budget designated to inform and raise awareness amongst citizens, and 35% of it allocated to repairing actions.
• Regarding the publication of the revision of the Waste Framework Directive, Re-fashion indicated that the French equivalent law is now being processed at the French Parliament. Overall, they welcome the proposal as it is aligned with their work and targets. However, Re-Fashion highlights that the proposal, to avoid unintended consequences, should reconsider omitting from its scope waste that is generated and recycled within the same company. In their opinion, “the proposal was targeted at textile producers, not at sorting operators” and called for the EU to further discuss this point throughout the ongoing legislative process.

This was the second of a webinar series presenting the different EU EPR schemes and Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) work. The series will build upon the groundwork laid by GFA and the Policy Hub, which since 2019, had previously convened several roundtables on the topic of EPR schemes for textiles to harmonise and align EPR schemes across the European Member States, ensuring consistency and minimizing confusion along the value chain. By inviting Member States and PROs to share their progress, the series of webinars will aim at facilitating knowledge sharing, peer learning, and ultimately set harmonisation of objectives, scope, definitions, and key performance indicators.

Read more about the harmonisation of EPR in our article here.