The European Parliament has approved new regulations aimed at reducing food and textile waste across the European Union. The measures, adopted on Tuesday, introduce binding targets for member states to cut food waste by 2030. Under the updated rules, countries must reduce food waste from processing and manufacturing by 10% and achieve a 30% per capita reduction in retail, restaurants, food services, and households compared to average levels recorded between 2021 and 2023.
To support these goals, EU countries are required to identify economic operators who play significant roles in generating or preventing food waste. These operators will be responsible for facilitating the donation of unsold but safe-to-eat food.
In addition to addressing food waste, the legislation introduces new requirements for textile producers operating within the EU. All producers—including those selling via e-commerce and those based outside the bloc—will be obliged to finance the collection, sorting, and recycling of textile products through extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes. Each member state must establish such schemes within 30 months after the directive comes into force. Micro-enterprises will have an additional year to comply with these obligations.
The scope of products covered includes clothing, accessories, hats, footwear, blankets, bed and kitchen linen, and curtains. Member states may also choose to create EPR schemes specifically for mattress producers. When determining financial contributions under EPR schemes, authorities should consider practices related to ultra-fast fashion and fast fashion.
According to parliamentary procedure at second reading stage: “the President announced in plenary that the proposed act was deemed adopted (the position was already agreed by Council earlier this summer).”
The next steps involve formal signing of the law by both co-legislators before its publication in the EU Official Journal. Member states will then have 20 months from entry into force to implement these rules into national law.
These changes follow a July 2023 proposal from the European Commission aimed at revising EU waste management policies concerning food and textiles. Annually in the EU nearly 60 million tonnes of food waste—about 132 kg per person—and approximately 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste are generated. Of this amount, clothing and footwear contribute about 5.2 million tonnes or roughly 12 kg per person each year; less than one percent of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products.
