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EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

environment.ec.europa.eu

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Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#91

Post by kube-system »

whateverboat wrote: post #15
throwaway198846 wrote: post #2

Can they ship it outside the EU and then destroy it? What happens if truly nobody wants those clothes? Why not just put a carbon tax per weight?

Donations would already be a great thing. This law makes it feasible in boardrooms to justify donations. Donations to shelters, developing countries and otherwise.

Aren’t there already advantages to donating? I.e. Tax advantages, and a lack of disposal cost?

I think the reason that brands don’t want to donate is because they don’t want their brands to be associated with poor people.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#92

Post by mixedbit »

Aurornis wrote: post #35

In my experience in other physical goods industries (not textiles specifically) there is a big difference between products that are good but aren’t ever sold for some reason and products that are deemed not sellable for some reason. For example, if a custom returns a product that was opened but they claim was never used (worn in this case) you can’t sell it to someone else as a new item. With physical products these…

This is also very detrimental to buyer experience. When you search for a specific new product, prices from different sellers can vary widely. Most often there is no way to tell what is the reason for the difference. Is the cheapest offer simply the best deal, or is it a refurbished product, or even a fake?

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#93

Post by epistasis »

Aurornis wrote: post #35

In my experience in other physical goods industries (not textiles specifically) there is a big difference between products that are good but aren’t ever sold for some reason and products that are deemed not sellable for some reason. For example, if a custom returns a product that was opened but they claim was never used (worn in this case) you can’t sell it to someone else as a new item. With physical products these…

Beautiful insight into processes that most of us never see, thanks!

My initial thought was "reusing an item is even better than recycling" but then realized that a warrantied item is quite likely to have flaws and get warrantied again very soon.

I have recently been trolling eBay for used computing equipment rather than buying new, after it was suggested I sell my old hardware that I don't think anyone would want. And man has that been a great experience, it's way more fun than browsing Newegg or doing pc part picking from new catalogs. I need neither the compute hardware nor the cost savings but it's a fun activity on its own, not unlike so many computer games where you do deck optimization or similar.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#94

Post by kube-system »

smt88 wrote: post #22
kwanbix wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe donate it to poor countries? When I used to work for the biggest ecommerce in europe, we had various stages for clothes. The last stage was selling the clothes by kilo to companies.

Poor countries don't need clothes. They have clothes. It's just more (mostly plastic pollution) that fills their landfills and rivers. https://atmos.earth/art-and-culture/the-messy-truth/

Just because a country has clothing in it doesn’t mean all of the people in that country have clothing. There are people in rich countries that need clothes. Clothing wears out, it’s a perpetual need and perpetually disposed.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#96

Post by cm2012 »

Incredibly, unbelievably stupid law. Waste is made when something unwanted is created, not when it is thrown out. Destruction or landfill is often the best option for all involved and modern landfills are very safe and sustainable. I worked in recycled clothing for a few years and it is not always or even often efficient.

This is forcing society to be inefficient to make some people feel a little better emotionally about something irrational.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#97

Post by JasonADrury »

ch4s3 wrote: post #7
JasonADrury wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What happens if truly nobody wants those clothes In theory companies would eventually be forced to produce less items nobody wants, although this is just an additional incentive in that natural process.

That doesn't really make sense, losing your whole investment is already a strong incentive to not produce something you can't sell.

A factory might have a minimum order quantity of 10000 units for a product. The products cost $1 landed.

You know you can sell 4000 of those products for a total of $15k.

This might become a bad deal if dealing with the 6000 extra units costs you money.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#98

Post by cm2012 »

riffraff wrote: post #12
throwaway198846 wrote: post #2

Can they ship it outside the EU and then destroy it? What happens if truly nobody wants those clothes? Why not just put a carbon tax per weight?

> What happens if truly nobody wants those clothes? from TFA > companies are encouraged to manage their stock more effectively, handle returns, and explore alternatives such as resale, remanufacturing, donations, or reuse. Worst case would be recycling the fibers, presumably.

Which in many cases is less environmentally efficient than the alternative

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#99

Post by philipallstar »

saubeidl wrote: post #49
smt88 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What developing country do you think has a clothing shortage?

What about the poor in their own countries that might not be able to afford clothes?

It's very very easy to spend much less on clothes. Buying a new handbag every 6 months vs maintaining a bag for 20 years isn't that much different in terms of effort, but one is unbelievably more expensive.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#100

Post by saubeidl »

ozgrakkurt wrote: post #89
saubeidl wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the poor in their own countries that might not be able to afford clothes?

But then the prices might drop and the shareholders might lose value. Rather have all people spend all of their money to the cent to buy clothes, to pay rent and to buy water tbh

If the shareholders are rich because the poor are not clothed then fuck the shareholders and the system that made them rich.
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