From October, citizens will be able to claim between 6 and 25 euros for the cost of repairing clothes and shoes in workshops or shoemakers who have joined the plan.
A broken heel, a tear in the pants, a shirt without buttons? Do not throw them away if you live in France. The authorities of this country will pay a premium to encourage citizens to repair their clothes and shoes instead of throwing them away, the government has announced.
From October, citizens will be able to claim between 6 and 25 euros for the cost of repairing clothes and shoes in workshops or shoemakers who have joined the plan. The objective is to reduce the 700,000 tons of clothing that the French throw away each year, two thirds of which end up in the landfill.
On Tuesday, during a visit to the Paris premises of La Caserne, the center for responsible fashion, the Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, declared that “from October, consumers will be able to benefit from to repair their clothes and shoes”.
“The goal is to support those doing repairs,” Couillard said during the visit. This would encourage garages and retailers to offer repair services in “the hope of recreating jobs”.
Couillard has invited “all sewing shops and shoemakers to join the scheme”, which will be sealed by eco-body Refashion, which has received government instructions to support a more sustainable industry.
As part of this plan, which promotes the development of the circular economy, customers will be able to claim a “repair bonus” of six euros for the repair of a heel and between 10 and 25 euros for the repair of clothing from a fund of 154 million euros created to cover the period 2023-2028.
According to Refashion, in 2021, 244,448 tonnes of textile pieces were collected, i.e. 3.6 kg per inhabitant. At the same time, 2,800 million textile items (clothing, shoes and household linen) were placed on the market, i.e. approximately 10.5 kg per inhabitant, which represents 715,000 tonnes, or nearly 71 Eiffel towers.
Refashion, notes The Guardian newspaper, aims to encourage people not only to repair and reuse, but also to reduce the amount of textiles they buy and donate those they no longer want. They claim that around 56% of the parts collected are reused and 32% are recycled to bring new materials to life.
Following the model of the household appliance repair bonus, the “repair bonus” is part of a vast reform of the textile sector, one of the most polluting industries on the planet, initiated by the French government since the end of 2022, which also aims to fight against what is called fast fashion.
Already in 2019, Women’s Wear Daily reported that Brune Poirson, Secretary of State at the Ministry for Ecological Transition, was pushing for a law that would ban companies from burning clothes they don’t sell. Prime Minister at the time, Édouard Philippe, said France would be the first to officially adopt the measure.
Along these lines, European Union governments agreed last May that the bloc should ban the destruction of unsold textiles, as part of the EU’s green effort to reduce waste through re-use and recycling. increased.
According to Reuters, textile consumption in Europe has the fourth biggest impact on the environment and climate change after food, housing and mobility. Around 5.8 million tonnes of textiles are thrown away every year in the EU, or around 11 kg per person, a large part of which is landfilled or incinerated. In the case of the United States, up to 11.3 million tons of textile waste is thrown away each year, or about 2,150 garments per second, Bloomberg pointed out in 2022.
Clothing production, meanwhile, doubled between 2000 and 2014, while the number of clothes purchased per capita over the same period increased by around 60%, according to McKinsey & Company.
As for fast fashion, the global market will grow from US$106.42 billion in 2022 to US$122.98 billion in 2023, at a compound annual growth rate of 15.6%, according to the Fast Fashion Global Market. Report 2023 published in February. .
An ambitious middle class in populated regions like Asia, combined with an e-commerce boom, is responsible for much of this growth, along with cheaper and faster manufacturing and shipping methods, notes the Eco-business website.
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
