Italy Proposal for a Textile EPR Decree
Governmental Agency: Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security
Jurisdiction: Italy
Ref no: TBC
Status: IN REVIEW
In February 2023, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) announced that it had developed a draft decree for textile EPR. While the decree has not been published, the press release states a number of key points:
- Producers will be responsible for "the financing and organization of the collection, initiation of preparation for reuse, recycling and recovery of waste deriving from textile products".
- Producers will be able to fulfill the obligations by establishing a textile waste management system collectively or individually.
- It must be ensured that there is "suitable financial and organizational means to create a textile waste separate collection network throughout Italy"
- A payment of an "environmental contribution" will be made.
- Manufacturers will need to develop, produce and market products with ecodesign in mind. Those mentioned include the use of biocompatible natural fibres and materials, elimination of hazardous substances (including microplastics), durability, repairability which could indicate ecodesign requirements.
- Supporting the development of advanced textile identification, sorting and treatment/recycling technologies.
- The Coordination Centre for Textile Recycling will coordinate textile collection & management systems on behalf of the government ministry.
The current draft decree is stated to be under consultation, no further information has been published.
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It is not yet certain what the legislation will require, as it has not been published, however the information provided by the Italian ministry responsible would indicate:
- Manufacturers/producers of products placed on the market in Italy will need to conform to a set of ecodesign criteria
- While the proposal does not specifically highlight who will pay the ""environmental contribution"", this will likely be those defined as the ""producer"" - as with other EPR schemes
- Producers will either need to set up their own systems to collect their waste, or work together with others to do so.
