The European Union generated 2.3 million tonnes of textile waste in 2024, with household disposal accounting for more than half of the total, the EU statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday.
During the same year, 1.4 million tonnes of textile waste were treated, equal to 63% of everything generated, according to the data. Exact EU totals stood at 2,270,314 tonnes generated and 1,422,895 tonnes treated, a gap of about 847,000 tonnes. Eurostat released the figures as the United Nations climate conference, COP 31, runs from Nov. 9 to 20.
Italy was the biggest producer of textile waste at 441,736 tonnes, and it also recorded the largest volume treated and recycled, at 280,680 tonnes. France followed with 339,965 tonnes generated and 258,129 tonnes treated, while Germany generated 212,107 tonnes and treated 207,156 tonnes.
Recovery operations handled 91% of textiles treated across the bloc. Recycling made up 78% of total treated waste, and incineration with energy recovery accounted for 13%. Landfilling represented 8% of treatment, while incineration without energy recovery stood at only 1%.
Also Read: 1,500 Billion Liters: Water Use Tests Bangladesh’s Garment Sector Now
Italy and France reported the highest share of recycled textile waste, both at 98%, followed by Lithuania at 87% and Slovenia at 83%. At the other end of the scale, Latvia recorded 0%, Estonia 5% and Romania 23%, based on 2022 data for Romania.
The figures offer a benchmark for the apparel and textile industry, which faces growing scrutiny over waste and recycling performance. The gap between leading recyclers such as Italy and France and laggards in the Baltic region and Romania shows how unevenly the bloc handles discarded clothing and fabrics.
Households were responsible for the bulk of the volume, highlighting the role of consumer disposal.
Eurostat said the figures draw on its waste generation and treatment dataset, known as env_wasgen.