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EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

environment.ec.europa.eu

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Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#161

Post by mc32 »

tancop wrote: post #24

some places already do this for food where anything thats after sell by date but still safe to eat has to be donated to a food bank. i think it should be expanded to cover more categories than food and clothes when reuse and recycling infra grows to take the demand. its not just good for the environment it also prevents producers from restricting supply to keep their profits high. the ultimate goal is make it illegal…

Food4Less I think is owned by a larger grocery store brand. They sell near due date or past due date foods at a reduced price. There are also third party past due grocers in secondary cities.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#163

Post by rzwitserloot »

loeg wrote: post #118
IneffablePigeon wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The result of laws like this is not that the store will never buy too much, it’s that when they do buy too much they will give it away to somewhere it can be used instead of destroying it. It will not cost them much if any more to simply give things to food banks or charity shops.

It in fact does cost them more to give things than to destroy them.

... and it costs society more to process the destroyed waste, and it costs society more to then deal with the fallout of shelters not having enough clothes.

Or not. Who knows. The point is, this 'economically it is more efficient' is not a proven case because the externalities need to be taken into account, and so far the person I've been responding to seems to not understand this part, or is ignoring it.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#164

Post by ezfe »

josephcsible wrote: post #52
iammjm wrote: post #28

Great! “Fashion” is capitalism’s toxic way of having people discard perfectly good clothes and buy new ones every 12 months. It’s stupid, wasteful, and disgusting

This has nothing to do with consumers throwing away their old clothes. It's specifically about companies throwing away clothes that were never bought by consumers.

Which they do to maintain their fashion reputation and image. It absolutely is related.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#165

Post by altairprime »

kelvinjps10 wrote: post #157
altairprime wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, with the exception of ‘unsafe’ where a shoe is used and/or non-cosmetically defective. The law reduces wasted production inputs — materials, energy, and labor — as well as production outputs — wearable shoes, here. This directly regulates a practice by brands where they destroy wearable clothing rather than see their latest branded fashion worn by people who bought it at a discount or received it for free. This…

Wouldn't they have to make discounts or sell it therefore lowering the price.

Nike certainly could choose to sell at a discount rather than grind unsold shoes into rubber. They have a wealth-signal brand to maintain, however, so they will resist doing so if at all possible.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#166

Post by s1artibartfast »

UltraSane wrote: post #153
s1artibartfast wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have to deal with less sales and or storing excess inventory. Let's say you have some bruised bananas. You either have to keep them on the shelf till they rot (less space for sellable product) or donate them and then people won't buy as many bananas, so you need to raise the price.

Supermarkets and stores throwing away edible food is pure waste and fundamentally immoral when people are going hungry.

Why? the two are generally unrelated. Lack of food isnt the bottleneck, there is no shortage. It is usually a host of complex problems.

Is throwing away water in a rainforest immoral when there are thristy people in a desert? The problem is connecting the two.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#167

Post by no-name-here »

athrowaway3z wrote: post #155
radu_floricica wrote: post #129

> To prevent misuse, businesses relying on these exemptions must provide proof (e.g. documents or test results) and publish annual reports on what they have discarded. I wonder if anybody is keeping track of everything a mid size business needs to take care of. Each particular report probably sounds like a reasonable request, but by now they're probably well into hundreds, and they're all outside the actual scope of…

I'm not sure your complaint works in this case. You only write a report if you want the exemption. The hypothetical business you're imaging shouldn't be looking for an exemption. The law's effect on small business is conceptually not too different from eg laws against dumping toxic sludge.

Per the OP article, this only affects large businesses (and medium businesses after a period of years).

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#168

Post by cbg0 »

thefourthchime wrote: post #146
sajithdilshan wrote: post #87

I’m pretty sure all those brands would now export those clothes to non-EU Balkan countries or even Turkey to be destroyed.

The EU is doing everything it can to fail. The only thing that seems to be coming out of the EU in the last 20 years is regulation. It seems to be its only invention and contribution to itself. They have no upper bounds on creativity when it comes to creating rules that disrupt business. I can't tell if this is coming from jealousy or incompetence—or perhaps a combination of both. They see the rest of the world, espe…

You're arguing in favor of destroying unworn clothes instead of donating to charity or discounting them as somehow being good for business? The point of this is to control against wasteful business practices, not a ban on producing or selling clothes.

The EU is a $23 trillion economy, hardly a slouch even though it is underperforming.

The VW example is actually something you probably don't understand - they're failing because they're an inefficient business, not because of EU regulations or Germany not having a "good economy". Toyota produces almost twice as many vehicles per employee.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#169

Post by cbg0 »

artisinal wrote: post #23
amazingamazing wrote: post #10

Why would this ever happen? Is it cheaper to destroy than sell at discount?

If the full price is €6, there isn’t much room for a discount. Destroying and freeing up store space for something that does sell can easily be profitable.

Donating to charity is cheaper than destroying.

Re: EU ban on destruction of unsold clothes and shoes enters into application

#170

Post by cbg0 »

UltraSane wrote: post #57

It should be illegal for stores to throw away edible food.

There are actually laws in EU countries to prevent this. Supermarkets have to discount food that is soon to expire instead of throwing it away, perishables from restaurants and fast food joints can be taken home by employees at the end of the day, and even donations to charities of said goods, or farms for produce unfit for human consumption is encouraged/regulated.
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