Landfills overflowing with discarded clothing are a growing, global problem, but Germany is considering a creative measure to curtail it, according to Just-Style.com.
Carsten Schneider, Germany's federal minister for the environment, explained to the Rheinische Post that the issue is hardly confined to landfills — the country has "Altkleider" (old clothing) bins to collect used clothes.
That system has long been "overwhelmed," Schneider said. Altkleider bins are routinely filled beyond capacity, with those tasked with maintaining them drowning in discarded textiles.
Nonprofits like the German Red Cross manage a significant amount of clothing waste, but the Post reported that these organizations are saddled with the costs of disposing of fast-fashion items that can't be reused.
As such, Schneider wants to propose a new "textile law" in 2026, one that would require clothing manufacturers and retailers to share the disposal costs.
He acknowledged that implementing the measure — the provisions of which have yet to be determined — might result in a slight increase in the cost of low-quality garments, but emphasized the gravity of the issue.
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"Fast fashion also leads to an extreme waste problem here in Germany. … The consequences of this order-and-throw mentality are really dramatic," Schneider told the Post.
Discarded clothing, particularly low-quality garments, often contains plastic, which exacerbates the issue of microplastics in our environment. Fast-fashion items also leach contaminants into soil and water.
The European Union recently imposed a three-euro ($3.48) surcharge on imported goods in an effort to stem the flow of fast fashion. Last January, the EU also mandated that used clothing be collected separately from standard household trash and other recyclables.
As Schneider stated, fast fashion is a major contributor to the overwhelming volume of landfilled textiles. Germany discarded 1 million tons of clothing and other fabrics in 2022, or about 26 pounds per person.
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That figure was lower than that of the United States, where each person throws out between 82 and 103 pounds of textiles each year. But regardless of the country, landfilled textile waste is a significant source of problematic air pollution.
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