EU Directives

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

Questions (14)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

14. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment whether each city and county council, under the EU's Waste Framework Directive, as it pertains to textile recycling, will have to ensure all successful tenderers will be required to sort all textiles before sending them onwards for resale, reuse, repurposing or waste; when all councils will be required to have contractors in place in place to carry such work unless the council intends to carry out the work itself; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17718/26]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment

The revised Waste Framework Directive with respect to food waste and textiles entered into force in October last year. The Directive provides for the establishment of an Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme (EPR) for textiles and the setting up of a Producer Responsibility organisation (PRO) to run the scheme on behalf of producers by April 2028.

It provides that producers will be responsible for setting up textile collection systems for used and waste textiles and footwear and ensuring they are subject to sorting operations so that their treatment is in line with the waste hierarchy.

The Directive provides that Member States will ensure that relevant actors are involved in the implementation of the EPR including producers, PROs, waste operators, local authorities, re-use operators and social economy entities. Local authorities will be a key stakeholder in the development of an EPR scheme for textiles, in accordance with the Directive’s provisions.

Later this month, I plan to publish the National Policy Statement & Roadmap on Circular Textiles 2026-2028. The Statement will address how green public procurement criteria can support best practice in textile collection services.