“While consumers and businesses have options to donate, repurpose, and repair used textiles in the U.S., the majority are discarded into municipal waste streams,” the Government Accountability Office says in a new report, which highlights issues about textile waste and textile recycling in the U.S. Against that background and in light of congressional concerns about “the rise of fast fashion and the corresponding increase in waste in the U.S., the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) asserts that it was asked to review issues related to textile waste and recycling.
In furtherance of its textile waste and recycling-focused study, GAO says that it “reviewed laws, agency documents and data, and leading practices for interagency collaboration,” and interviewed federal officials, representatives from industry, and other nonfederal stakeholders, such as officials from two state agencies and nonprofit organizations in order to determine: (1) how textile waste affects the environment; (2) how and why the rate of textile waste in the U.S. has changed in the last two decades; and (3) how federal actions can reduce textile waste and advance textile recycling, and what opportunities exist for entities to collaborate.
What the GAO Found: At a high level, the agency, which provides nonpartisan information to Congress, found that textile waste – discarded apparel and products, such as carpets, footwear, and towels – causes harmful effects to the environment, including via the release of greenhouse gases and the leaching of contaminants into soil and water as textile waste decomposes in landfills. Citing data from the EPA, the GOA states that textile waste in the U.S. increased by 50 percent between 2000 and 2018 in the U.S. as a result of the shift to a fast fashion business model; limited, decentralized systems for collecting and sorting textiles; and the infancy of recycling technologies, among other things.
Some federal entities have initiated and planned a number of efforts to reduce textile waste and encourage textile recycling, the GOA maintains. For example, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology is researching methods for textile recycling. The U.S. Department of State is leading an informal interagency group focused on extending the life of products and materials, and the EPA plans to develop a national textile recycling strategy within 5 to 10 years.
Despite these efforts, the GOA says that the reality is that “most federal entities’ efforts are nascent,” and that federal entities that carry out individualized efforts on waste and recycling, “give these efforts a lower priority than other goals.” And while “some federal entities took steps [in 2022] to formalize an interagency group” focused on textile waste, but “these efforts have stopped.” As of now, there is no national requirement for agencies to address waste and recycling, according to the GOA, and there is “limited interagency collaboration specifically targeting textile waste and recycling and opportunities exist for federal entities to collaborate on reducing textile waste and advancing recycling.”
Moreover, it found that “nonfederal stakeholders, including local agencies and nonprofit organizations, are also piloting programs and efforts to reduce textile waste and advance recycling.” Yet, information is “not readily accessible on possible federal funding sources for efforts related to reducing waste and advancing recycling efforts for other stakeholders, including municipalities and nonprofit organizations.”
Because the federal efforts underway or planned are being implemented individually, the GOA contends that there may be fragmentation across these federal entities, and that “without congressional direction, it is likely that federal entities will continue with their individual efforts and face potential fragmentation and duplication.”
What the GAO Recommends: With the foregoing in mind, the GAO recommends that Congress consider providing direction to a federal entity (or entities) to coordinate and take federal action to reduce apparel-related waste and advance recycling. GAO says that it is also making seven recommendations to six federal entities (the EPA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Departments of State and Energy), including that they coordinate through an interagency mechanism that follows leading practices.
The six entities largely agreed with the GAO’s findings but took issue with its recommendation about coordinating through an interagency mechanism.
Share
