Recital (36)

Used and waste textile, textile-related and footwear products should be collected separately from other waste streams, such as metals, paper and cardboard, glass, plastics, wood and bio-waste, to maintain their reusability and potential for high-quality recycling. In light of the environmental impact and the loss of materials due to used and waste textiles not being separately collected, and consequently not treated in an environmentally sound manner, the collection network of used and waste textile, textile-related and footwear products should cover the whole territory of Member States including the outermost regions, be close to the end user and not target only areas and products where the collection is profitable. The collection network should be organised in cooperation with other actors active in the waste management and re-use sectors, such as municipalities and social economy entities. In view of the significant environmental and climate benefits associated with re-use, the primary and secondary purposes of the collection network should be to collect re-usable and recyclable textile, textile-related and footwear products accordingly. A sustained increase in separate collection would drive improved re-use performance and quality recycling in the textile supply chains, boost the uptake of quality secondary raw materials and support investment planning for textile sorting and processing infrastructure. In order to verify and improve the effectiveness of the collection network and the information campaigns, regular compositional surveys at least at NUTS 2 level should be carried out on mixed municipal waste that has been collected to determine the amount of waste textile, textile-related and footwear products therein. In addition, information on the performance of separate collection systems and the quantity by weight of the separate collection showing a sustained increase should be made publicly available on a yearly basis by the producer responsibility organisations.