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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

#601

Post by protocolture »

tjwebbnorfolk wrote: post #557
awesome_dude wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to speculate that it won't "add" ships at all As you say, ships are moving in and out of the EU each year - the question is, how many have "back loads" - if some percentage of the ships leave Europe empty to return to Asia for more manufactured goods, then it seems very likely that they can have the containers of unwanted clothes as part of the trip.

Oh cool, so I can fly commercial all I want at zero marginal CO2 emissions just because they don't have to build an extra plane just for me? I can burn that jet fuel and not feel bad because they were going to burn that gallon of fuel anyway ? Some of these arguments are so silly that I'm starting to understand why the EU thinks regulations are a free lunch to improve the environment with no costs whatsoever.

>Oh cool, so I can fly commercial all I want at zero marginal CO2 emissions just because they don't have to build an extra plane just for me?

If they would have flown the plane there anyway with an empty seat, your added CO2 is negligible yes.

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

#602

Post by kdheiwns »

t-3 wrote: post #590
swat535 wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, I'm not sure I understand how destroying the items would benefit these "resellers" ? What's in it for them?

They don't have to pay to warehouse them or maintain a storefront. Space and people aren't free.

Have you been to a poor country? Say you'll sell a pile of clothes for a dollar. You'll have 100 people rushing in offering to buy it off you because they know they can resell it. And if it's brand name stuff, demand will be higher. That's something they could even sell to tourists.

Warehouses aren't really necessary for clothes outside of rich countries where people can afford to just throw away literal tons of it.

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

#603

Post by hinkley »

Saline9515 wrote: post #573
hinkley wrote: post #570

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve heard there’s a practice of selling bundles of clothes to Africa and then the purchases pick through the bundle for what’s good and what’s useless. The impression I was left with is that this used to be more lucrative but now you’re almost as likely to get complete garbage as something good. So it’s like a sad loot box.

It's a big issue in Africa, as it completely destroyed to local clothing industry. As a side effect, you see people wearing westerner style clothing even in the midst of Africa, which is quite unsettling.

Now that you mention it, whatever I was watching that talked about this, also addressed the negative impact on the local textile industry.

So do you expect this law will increase the amount of dumping? Sounds like it might.

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

#604

Post by fy20 »

Gigachad wrote: post #395
nicbou wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clothing everyone is an achievement, but fast fashion is overshooting that target. A bit like feeding everyone vs. having an obesity crisis.

Polyester has been a disaster for clothing. I'd love to see countries come up with a plan to cut down on the amounts of plastic crap being pumped out.

There is a brand in my country that I liken to a physical Shein. The clothes are a similar style, and basically everything is polyester. When I walk into it, it smells like a carpet store.

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

#605

Post by fy20 »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #479
digiown wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the recipient of that donation, why would I actually destroy it when I can sell it?

Selling clothes is hard and annoying and most people can't be bothered. I've had to dispose of a number of clothes, and not once have I sold them; I think a slight majority ended up in the garbage, with a few turning into rags and a decent number landing in a donation bin when I lived in a building with one.

A few years ago a family member passed away and I tried to donate their clothes to a charity store. We threw away the worn out ones, so these were just good quality and most of them were good brands or at least looked high end. They took maybe 20% and said the rest we should just throw away.

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

#606

Post by kdheiwns »

jadenPete wrote: post #252

I think what bugs me about EU legislation like this is how micro-targeted it is. Why apparel specifically? If waste and a disregard for the finite-ness of natural resources is the problem, why not impose a blanket, Pigovian-style tax on all extracted resources? I got the same feeling when they mandated USB-C on Apple devices. If the problem of waste were tackled categorically, then the state wouldn’t need to get invo…

People will say something needs to be done about waste and microplastics then complain when actual action is taken.

One of the largest contributors to microplastics in our world is clothing. If companies need to start taking responsibility and reducing their supply, that's good for everyone. If companies feel pressured by regulations because they can no longer produce endless shit and artificially inflate prices by destroying half the shit they produce, then I'm in favor of it. I'd even be in favor of governments shutting down corporations that massively overproduce. It's the 21st century and these companies measure every single little aspect of their business. If they need to trash a bunch of their clothes, it's because they're being actively wasteful. Cost reduction is one of the most fundamental aspects of capitalism, and if companies aren't even concerned about that aspect, then they deserve to be crushed.

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

#607

Post by cm2012 »

DANmode wrote: post #579
charcircuit wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not a landfill.

Since you seem to have missed the point: tell that to the people putting the waste into it.

Almost no plastic waste in first world countries ends up in the ocean, thankfully

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

#608

Post by skeptic_ai »

8note wrote: post #597
TheChaplain wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't be surprised if products are sent abroad for destr^Wrecycling. No I am not joking, some german company hid an airtag in a old computer that went to recycling. It ended up somewhere in Thailand, being not very environmentally friendly taken care of.

sure, but within an EU context, the company should still get fined as if they destroyed it themselves

How do you know was destroyed when all official records say it’s recycled?

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

#609

Post by digiown »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #479
digiown wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the recipient of that donation, why would I actually destroy it when I can sell it?

Selling clothes is hard and annoying and most people can't be bothered. I've had to dispose of a number of clothes, and not once have I sold them; I think a slight majority ended up in the garbage, with a few turning into rags and a decent number landing in a donation bin when I lived in a building with one.

Individual used pieces of clothes are not nearly the same as unsold or returned (~new) available in bulk quantities.

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

#610

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

cyclotron3k wrote: post #398
miki123211 wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This is a fantasy. No one is going to pay you to take your waste away and dispose of it. You would have to pay them. So now there's a strong financial incentive to a) not over produce, b) sell the clothes - even if it means selling them for next to nothing.

Retailers don't want their excess inventory to be sold at a discount. They'd rather it be destroyed. A small fee to have someone else destroy it is just a business expense. The OP should have put "sell" in scare quotes.
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