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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

#441

Post by bombcar »

ljf wrote: post #199
buckle8017 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the eBay sellers always label defective stuff as simply new product. People buying it may or may not be ok with the defect. Think bad welds, usually they're fine for a while and then they're very much not.

Had this recently, bought a dehumidifier for a good price, marked as new - arrived and had obviously been opened and didn't work. Out of a desire to have a dehumidifier sooner than later I was about to open it up when I saw it already had been, so I opened a return instead and sent it back. I can only assume it is worth it for the seller to sell untested goods as new, a good number must work long enough for the buyer…

I still remember Fry's Electronics and trying to find anything that hadn't been opened-returned-reshinkwrapped. Often it was impossible. Not sure why they had so many but eh whatever, it mostly worked fine.

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

#442

Post by mrighele »

miki123211 wrote: post #373
motbus3 wrote: post #204

I'm reading the comments and I get confused. I kinda think this is a good idea and it is not like the government is purely making it a 3rd party problem only. This might make production more complicated for a while, but nowadays it is much easier to predict demand and produce quicker in smaller batches. In the 90s you might need change a whole factory setting for every single piece of fabric but nowadays it is that m…

Here's how this law is actually going to work. Instead of destroying the unsold clothes in Europe, manufacturers are going to sell them to "resale" companies in countries with little respect for the rule of law, mostly in Africa or Asia. Those companies will then destroy those clothes, reporting them as sold to consumers. So instead of destroying those clothes in Europe, we'll just add an unnecessary shipping step to…

What is going to happen is that what is left of European manufacturers in the sector are going to move production and warehouses abroad, and from there they will move to EU only about what they need. They will continue to operate as they used to, the only difference being less business (and less jobs) being done in EU.

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

#445

Post by bonzini »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #440
ryantgtg wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You appear to be agreeing with the person you’re replying to.

I'm not. Read their comment and mine. This was always, and will always be a thing. It's not a burden, just a marginal cost of business. Instead of paying a European company a €40k to destroy your broken products, you can pay an African one €10k to "recycle" your product. Best of all, you're legally forced to. I can see hundreds of companies lobbying for this because it completely takes them off the hook. "The law say…

The original comment says "sell them to «resale» companies". Selling goods means being paid for it, while you and the parent comment are both saying money goes in the opposite direction.

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

#446

Post by linehedonist »

reddalo wrote: post #429
linehedonist wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, though New York has gotten a real honest-to-goodness winter this year. There's been a foot on the snow on the ground continuously for the last month, and it's been cold enough that the pipes in one of my bathrooms froze. I think it's easier from the West Coast to bemoan the end of East Coast winters than to live through one :)

The problem is that one cold winter doesn't mean we fixed the problem. We need to look at the average change throughout the years, and that's very worrying.

No disagreement there!

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

#447

Post by h4kunamata »

Every single country should follow suit, apply to food also.

The reason these companies get so greedy is because they can control the demand. Companies have been found destroying their goods to keep the price high.

The whole Europe is pretty broken right now government wise, but they sure know how to have some decent laws in place when the politics aren't being an arse.

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

#448

Post by seszett »

niels8472 wrote: post #423
nkrisc wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> manufacturers are going to sell them to "resale" companies in countries with little respect for the rule of law, mostly in Africa or Asia. Those companies will then destroy those clothes, reporting them as sold to consumers. Why wouldn’t they just turn around and resell the clothes? Surely these companies aren’t paying H&M for the privilege of destroying their surplus clothes, so by reselling them they’ll be gettin…

They would destroy clothing because it is not sold. This already happens to second hand clothing that is shipped to Africa. Part of it is sold, part of it is dumped. This is well documented.

If part of it is sold, isn't it better than if it had all been destroyed? It's literally what that law is for.

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

#449

Post by altern8 »

The EU has to get its hand into every aspect of everyone's life.

From the material the straw I drink from is made, to what port companies can use for charging, to what companies can do with their own products.

I don't get why European nations always have to turn into totalitarian fascist dictatorships.

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

#450

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

Nition wrote: post #283
cperciva wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they knew in advance that the clothing wouldn't sell, they would never have made it! But companies stockpile goods in anticipation of potential demand. For example, they'll "overproduce" winter coats because some winters are colder than average. This sort of anti-overproduction law means that the next time there's an unexpected need -- for example an unusually cold winter -- there will be a shortage because there…

Could they overproduce and keep unsold stock for next winter, and if unsold stock gets too high, stop producing more until it reduces?

They mostly do keep unsold stock, only a fraction of it gets destroyed. See the EEA's full analysis from 2024 (https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/the-destr...).
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