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Humana takes a position on EPR for the textile sector in Spain

15-04-2025

Humana has been an operator of textile waste since 1987. We subscribe to the general requirements of the extended producer responsibility for textile waste of Directive 2008/98/EC. We believe that the systems that will come to regulate the textile waste management sector must take advantage of existing structures, which have coexisted in balance with local administrations, citizens and the national and global market.
 

This comprehensible, coherent and simplicity-based system has allowed the sector to remain faithful to the waste hierarchy with increasing volumes of selectively collected waste, creating quality green jobs.

Based on these premises, we propose that:

  • Local administrations continue to be the main organisers of the collection of post-consumer textiles, and to carry out public tenders for separate collection.
  • Separate collection is mainly carried out by means of containers on the public highway, giving priority to the quality and speed of the service.
  • The selection of the operator or operators in each municipality or group of municipalities is carried out under equal conditions for service providers, under the protection of Law 9/2017, of 8 November, on Public Sector Contracts.
  • The MITECO through the Royal Decree on Textile Waste establishes the guidelines for the criteria for tenders and for the model for the evaluation to ensure the correct evaluation to be developed together with the representatives of the sector.
  • The operator collecting the textile waste is the owner of the collected material.
  • If no textile waste operator is willing to do the collection for economic reasons, the RAP system has the responsibility to make a tender and pay what it costs, using a tariff to be developed.
  • For reasons of geographical concentration and cost savings, all collection in a geographical area should be the responsibility of the operator in that area.
  • The Reuse Preparation Centres buy the collected textile waste at market price from the operators performing the separate collection and ensure the strict application of the waste hierarchy.
     

More information

Vision of an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system for the textile sector in Spain
 

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