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A new study by the Joint Research Centre – the European Commission's scientific service – shows that Romania is inefficiently managing textile waste, despite increasing legislative pressure imposed at European level. According to the analysis, only 8–16% of textiles are collected separately in Romania, while the rest are disposed of with household waste, becoming unusable. Co-collecting them contaminates them, making the reuse or recycling process practically impossible.
This reality is also confirmed by data from the Romanian Association for Textile Reuse and Recycling (ARETEX), which estimates that approximately 160,000 tons of textiles are discarded annually in Romania, and the actual recycling and reuse rate is below 10%. In contrast, Italy, for example, manages to reuse almost a quarter of collected textiles domestically, while the Czech Republic, although having a lower domestic reuse rate, recycles and exports most of what it collects.
Zoltán Gündisch, president of ARETEX, points out that European figures tell the same story: Romania turns clothes into waste instead of treating them as a resource. He argues that the transition to a circular economy in the textile sector will not happen spontaneously and that public intervention is needed: coherent policies, infrastructure investments, and clear reporting of the path each textile item takes, from collection to reuse or incineration.
The new EU Waste Framework Directive, adopted this autumn, comes with clear rules and strict deadlines. Separate collection has become mandatory, and within a maximum of 30 months, every Member State must implement an extended producer responsibility system. Producers will be obliged to cover the costs of collecting, sorting, and recycling the clothes they place on the market. The Directive covers all types of textiles, from clothing and footwear to bedding, curtains, and blankets, and imposes rules that allow for adjusting fees based on the durability and sustainability of products.
In Romania, however, legislation seems to have overtaken reality. Textiles are still collected by the same operators that handle household waste, and sorting infrastructure is underdeveloped or nonexistent in many regions. For this reason, ARETEX requests that textile management be transferred to specialized operators, capable of prioritizing reuse and ensuring a clear path for each product.
Another major problem concerns the economic pressure on the reuse sector. While sorting centers for second-hand clothes or recycling do not benefit from financial support, the market is flooded with ultra-fast fashion products, often imported online, at very low prices and without customs duties. In ARETEX's opinion, these practices not only distort competition but also undermine any real effort to support a circular economy in textiles.
At the same time, the organization requests the elimination of the 150-euro ceiling for online imports exempted from taxes and the introduction of incentives for companies investing in collection and sorting infrastructure. Without such measures, Romania risks not achieving any of the targets assumed through the European Green Deal.
The publication of the JRC study comes at a key moment when European pressure on the textile sector is becoming increasingly clear. However, without national mobilization, without allocated funds, and without functional infrastructure, all these objectives will remain mere obligations on paper, and used clothes will continue to be treated as garbage – instead of being seen as valuable resources in a real circular economy.
