Almost 70% of global textile production is synthetic/plastic-based.
Synthetic textile fibres are produced from fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas. Like fossil fuels, synthetic textiles have severe environmental impacts across their lifecycle from production to disposal.
Over the past two decades, the most viable disposal mechanism has been via global trade in used textiles and textile waste. Less than 1 per cent of textile waste is recycled or rather downcycled into new textiles, which is energy-intensive and often releases microplastics or toxins from dyes. What can’t be repurposed gets dumped, burned, landfilled, or buried, poisoning communities and the environment. As the materials travel across borders and supply chains, accountability and responsibility fall to local communities in developing countries.
At the global policy level, textile waste — a plastic-dominant, toxic-saturated waste stream that currently evades the Plastic Waste Amendments — undermines Basel protections within the global waste trade system.
From the 23rd-26th June 2026, the fifteenth meeting of the Open-ended Working Group of the Basel Convention (OEWG-15) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. BFFP member organizations will be present at the meeting to raise concerns about textile waste.
Every year, millions of tonnes of used clothing are shipped from developed nations to the Global South — labelled as charity, traded as opportunity.
A huge percentage of this waste is synthetic or fossil-fuel-based textiles that have severe environmental impacts across their lifecycle from production to disposal. You’ve seen the labels on your clothing, yet do you know where these synthetic fibres come from, and what harm they cause?
A foundational study outlining how much textile waste is being produced and the cost of linear growth ‘A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future’ – Ellen MacArthur Foundation https://content.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/m/6d5071bb8a5f05a2/original/A-New-Textiles-Economy-Redesigning-fashions-future.pdf
Read this investigation about EU textile waste to Kenya ‘Trashion: The stealth export of waste plastic clothes to Kenya’ – Changing Markets https://changingmarkets.org/report/trashion-the-stealth-export-of-waste-plastic-clothes-to-kenya/
Read this report about Romanian textile dumping ‘ROMANIA, the garbage of Europe’s used textiles’ – Rise Project https://www.riseproject.ro/en/projects/romania-the-garbage-of-europes-used-textiles/
From the EU’s Closet to Africa’s Dumpsters: How Fast Fashion Fuels the Textile Waste Crisis in Africa: https://www.no-burn.org/from-the-eus-closet-to-africas-dumpsters-how-fast-fashion-fuels-the-textile-waste-crisis-in-africa/
Linking toxic clothing from Shein in Asia to European markets in violation of EU law ‘SCHÄM DICH, SHEIN’ – Greenpeace https://presseportal.greenpeace.de/258135-greenpeace-recherche-gefahrliche-chemikalien-in-shein-kleidung-verstossen-weiterhin-gegen-eu-grenzwerte.
Campaign by our network Break Free From Plastics
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