To address this issue, The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, held a virtual side session on ‘Fixing a leaky system: creating resource management systems for used textiles’ at the forum hosted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The global market for second-hand clothing has grown seven-fold in the last four decades, the 2024 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector was told recently.
The fast fashion industry has boosted such exports, affecting the environment and social and human rights in importing countries, a virtual session at the forum heard.
The meeting discussed ways to find new coordinated strategies, including a multilevel approach involving exporting and importing countries, and an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system holding producers responsible, an UNECE release said.
Over 400 participants discussed the findings of a UNECE-UNECLAC joint study and current trends on reuse, recycling and disposal pathways, as well as possible solutions, on how this EPR for textiles can produce a scaled infrastructure for collection, sorting, reuse and recycling, ultimately contributing to the development of circular economy solutions across borders.
UNECE’s team of specialists also organised a meeting to discuss challenges in scaling up transparency and traceability with respect to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).
Another session acknowledged challenges in data collection and interoperability.
Outcomes of this and other initiatives undertaken by UNECE under the Sustainability Pledge are feeding international standards and norms like the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
