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Textile reuse is key to the creation of green employment
16-05-2022
Reuse is essential in the transition towards a circular textile industry and the creation of green jobs, not in vain it is a growing sector that is experiencing a crucial moment. And it is that European and Spanish legislation have placed a rising sector on the agenda: for example, the sale of clothing in the secondhand fashion stores of Humana Fundación Pueblo para Pueblo has increased by 11.8% in 2021 compared to 2019, before the pandemic. The other side of the coin is that in Spain more than one million tons of textile waste is generated annually, of which only 110,000 tons are recovered.
On the occasion of World Recycling Day, which is celebrated on Tuesday, May 17, Humana recalls that the recovery and subsequent management of used textiles "has enormous benefits, not only in environmental terms but also in social terms, such as the creation of green jobs" . The non-profit entity creates one job for every 30,000 kilos of clothing collected, most of which are full-time indefinite contracts. The entity has a team of 600 people, 75% of whom are women.
“Training is essential to ensure specialized employment in textile management. Manual sorting, item by item, is essential to give it a second life. Currently there is no system that can replace the eye and the human touch when processing clothing with a reuse criterion, promoting its circularity”, adds Rafael Mas, Director of Projects and External Relations at Humana.
The used clothing sector is experiencing a decisive moment with the recent approval in Congress of the Waste and Contaminated Soil Law which, as far as textiles are concerned, prohibits the destruction of surplus; determines that selective collection will be mandatory in all municipalities in 2025; It strongly supports reuse and promotes the implementation of different figures of Extended Producer Responsibility (RAP). For its part, Brussels is working on the European circular economy strategy, one of the main elements of the European Green Deal.
“The EU roadmap follows a very clear path, in which it promotes the waste hierarchy and reuse. Our entity is aligned with this strategy”, indicate Humana sources, who recall the visit of the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, to the preparation plant for reuse that the entity has in Leganés (Madrid), in November 2021 The senior European official then stated: "It is time to give post-consumer textiles the importance they deserve within the sustainable management of waste, taking into account that selective collection and preparation for reuse are key to promoting of the circular economy and green employment.
