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  1. Accra <> Paris Delegation: Views on EPR
  2. French Textile EPR Key Facts
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What is the status of EPR for Textiles?

Accra <> Paris Delegation: Views on EPR

In November 2022, our team at The Or Foundation partnered with Vestiaire Collective to host a Kantamanto Delegation of 15 people, including retailers, tailors and former kayayei, in Paris to meet with Refashion, the Ministry of Ecological Transition, brands, clothing collectors and charities to share our position on EPR and to advocate for swift reform to the current framework.

France is the only country that has an EPR program for textiles and clothing. The Ministry of Ecological Transition sets the directive and Refashion, formerly Eco TLC, is the sole PRO administering the French EPR Program. Here are the key facts you should know.

French Textile EPR Key Facts

  1. In 2021 34% of the garments placed on the French marketplace were collected through the EPR Program.
  2. Although garments can qualify for a fee of up to €0.063 (six cents), the average fee paid by brands in 2021 is €0.0116 (one cent) per garment with 81% of items declared being eco-modulated based on durability. With this, Refashion collected €51.1 Million in fees.
  3. In 2021, France exported 80% of tonnages collected under EPR. Of this, France exported 60,000 tonnes to countries across Africa, equal to 599 garments per minute. Ghana is the 12 largest recipient of clothing from France and our neighbor Togo is the second largest destination of secondhand clothing exports from France (the first is Haiti).
  4. Refashion pays registered sorters in France and in other European countries €80/tonne sorted for reuse and €180/tonne sorted for recycling and solid recovered fuel.
  5. In 2020, French sorters / exporters sold sorted clothing to Ghanaian importers for an average of $0.72 per kg or $720 per tonne.
  6. Refashion openly tracks exports to the top 27 receiving countries and yet €0.00 have been distributed to communities, governments or NGOs in these receiving countries.
  7. The French Ministry of Ecological Transition has set a goal of increasing collection to 60% of new garments introduced onto the market by 2028, but the target for reusing clothing within 1,500km of the collection point is only 15% by 2027. France will inevitably continue to export the majority of the clothing that is collected domestically through EPR.
  8. Although it is not prohibited by the policy framework and although the French EPR program pays sorters in other European countries, neither The French Ministry of Ecological Transition nor Refashion have plans to distribute funds to communities like Kantamanto who ultimately manage the end-of-life of clothing bought and worn by French citizens.

While the French Textiles EPR Policy is far from perfect, France has taken action while other countries have stood still and Refashion has published extensive reports that inform our vision for a Globally Accountable EPR Policy. Someone had to get the ball rolling and we are happy there is a body of work to build on.