Environmental Value

Environmental value is added value for society, ensured through efficient environmental performance, such as recycling activities or through a green image towards society (Schenkel et al. 2015). Fundamental principles established by the EU and defined in the Waste Framework Directive are the obligation for Member States to handle waste in such a way to protect the environment as well as human health. The waste hierarchy applies as a priority order in waste prevention and management legislation and policy, starting with prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery (such as energy recovery), and disposal (European Union 2019; Jacometti 2019). In order to determine environmental value captured by various actors, the waste hierarchy is used as a framework for analysis. Whereas used clothes hold environmental value by saving resources throughout various steps of the waste hierarchy, environmental value can be instrumentalized by actors to capture economic value. An example for such a convergence between values is the growing “green fashion” movement, where fashion designers and retailers are applying the waste hierarchy of reduce, reuse and recycling, in order to create new valuable pieces in response to the growing awareness of the need for environmental sustainability in the Global North (Norris 2012). The interlinkages between economic and environmental value in the GPN of second-hand clothes are discussed in detail in chapter 7.4.

With regards to the first step of the waste hierarchy, prevention of waste, empirical research shows that some charitable actors organize awareness campaigns, workshops or talks to increase consciousness about negative impacts of fast fashion

and consequential problems with textile waste. Those mostly focus on post-consumer waste (Interview 1, 3, 4, 6). Apart from awareness raising within society there are no activities performed by actors involved in the GPN of second-hand clothes that tackle the prevention of textile waste in the first place. This has been stressed by advocates from the Discard Studies, who outlined that current solutions to a so called waste problem are not tackling the actual problem and are not efficient with regards to prevention of waste (Schlitz and Laser 2019). Interviewees from advocacy groups for social business stressed that what has to change are current fast fashion dynamics and the attitude of people towards consuming less (Interview 19, 20, 21).

According to the Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and Council, “Re-use means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived” (European Parliament, Council of the European Union 2008: 10). The importance of the re-use category in the GPN of second-hand clothes is portrayed in Figure 3, where it can be seen that used textiles classified as re-use (cream, grade A, grade B) represent 98 percent of the sellable value of original collected clothes by Nordic collectors (Watson et al. 2016). Considering the weight composition, according to empirical investigation, the re-use category ranges between 50 to 65 percent of the collected quantity (Interview 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). Actors are striving to increase the re-use component of the quantity of discarded textiles, so that economic as well as environmental value is safeguarded.

The third and fourth stage of the waste hierarchy concerns non-reusable textiles, which are either recycled or recovered. Empirical research has shown that due to an increase in collection quantity and a decreasing demand for lower grade re-usable clothing, actors find it increasingly hard to find markets for non-reusable textiles. Ljungkvist et al. (2018) argue that some of re-usable clothing has been sold on the recycling market rather than on the second-hand clothing market, this led to a drop in prices on recycling markets as they have become saturated. According to research from Watson et al.

(2016), used clothes classified for the recycling market, only account for 2 percent of the sellable value. Empirical investigation shows that with regards to quantity, interviewees highlighted that around 20 to 35 percent are sold on international recycling markets, depending on the local context (Interview 13). One of the interviewees outlined that material which is recycled today has a positive ecological impact, however is often not economically viable. The strategy of the sorter is to

cooperate and invest in research institutions to define a sorting category that perfectly meets requirements for raw material for post-consumer textile waste, meaning to define the composition of a material that can be efficiently processed further into new clothing. Ultimately, this should lead to greater efficiency in recycling processes based on high economic and environmental value added (Interview 9). Recycled material that can be processed further into new clothing, and hence closes the loop in a circular economy is still rare. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation highlights that nowadays “less than 1 percent of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017: 20). This point has also been highlighted by one of the representatives of a multi-stakeholder initiative for sustainable textiles, who outlined that they have an expert group working on researching sustainable and recyclable fibres. The interviewee highlighted that environmental concerns regarding the textile industry, and end-of life of clothes, have gained importance in recent years and will increase in importance in the future, also with regards to EPR (Interview 18). One of the advocates of the Discard Studies highlights that recycling processes currently produce materials, which are less robust than their original forms. In case their market prices drop, which makes materials less economically viable, they can be easily abandoned, shipped overseas to countries of the Global South, buried or burned, consequently having a crucial negative impact on receiving countries. Furthermore, the author outlined that recycling programs are often supported by industry, as they generally entail a continuation of growing production of disposables (Liboiron 2015).

This has also been highlighted by interviewees, who outlined that the topic of re-use is often overlooked in the current political debate, which focuses more on increasing sustainability of consumption and recycling (Interview 20, 21). In view of this, it can be seen that while recycling process create an environmental value for actors in the Global North, there are possible negative effects of the international recycling market on countries in the Global South. What is more, the increase of efficiency in recycling processes does not solve the problem of rising quantities of textile waste.

The last step of the waste hierarchy is disposal of textile waste, which presents a financial burden to actors. The treatment of textile waste generally costs sorters around EUR 0.05 per kg waste, as sorters have to pay to eliminate used clothes that can neither be re-used or recycled and therefore get incinerated or landfilled (Watson et al.

2016). Hence, empirical investigation shows that commercial and charitable actors are sorting used textiles into sellable fractions as far as possible. “It is crucial to create a

market for everything, so that there is as little waste remaining as possible and we have to pay as little as possible for the disposal” (Interview 9). The sorter outlined that textile waste has been rising in recent years due to fast fashion dynamics and accounts for around 7 percent of the total collected amount (Interview 9). Considering the environmental impact of disposal of textile waste, Watson et al. (2016) outline that waste treatment in the EU is strongly guided by regulations, “it can be assumed that any waste resulting from sorting processes in EU Member States will be treated responsible” (Watson et al. 2016: 69). However, offshoring sorting processes to countries with lax regulations with regards to social and environmental standards has been increasing (Watson et al. 2016). One of the sorters highlighted that there is an internal and external audit in their offshore sorting facilities in Eastern Europe. In Morocco however, the audit focuses on social compliance, environmental issues are currently not considered, however are on the agenda. The interviewee outlined that what happens with textile waste in sorting facilities depends on local regulations. With regards to the sorting plant outside of Europe, in Morocco, the sorter stressed their compliance with local waste disposal regulations (Interview 8). Debates on the flows of waste from the Global North to the Global South are framed by the environmental justice paradigm. In this regard, Gregson and Crang outline that “the waste of profligate western consumers and of the throwaway consumer societies of the Global North are a form of neo-colonialism as they are dumped on the peoples and environments of the Global South” (Gregson and Crang 2015: 5). In economic terms, the authors highlight that environmental costs of the Global North are externalized to the Global South. As opposed to the environmental justice approach, which sees waste as an environmental bad, hazardous, toxic and potentially harmful, another string of research on global recycling highlights the importance of considering different perceptions of waste and its materiality. It portrays a complex global trade in secondary resources, and the transformation of waste to resources in countries of the Global South (Gregson and Crang 2015). Currently, there is still a lack of research with regards to environmental impacts of the trade with second-hand clothes on countries of the Global South and further research is crucial, especially with regards to the increasing quantity of non-reusables (Watson et al. 2016).

Summing up, charitable as well as commercial actors in the GPN of second-hand clothes create environmental value in various ways. Following the prioritization according to the waste hierarchy, empirical investigations shows that especially

charitable actors try to promote the prevention of textile waste. With regards to preparing for use, actors perform collection and sorting activities in order to sell re-usable clothing on the second-hand clothing market. The higher the re-use category, the greater the environmental value added for society. Non-reusable textiles are sold on the international recycling market to be processed further and recycled. Used textiles which cannot be recycled, are sold further for energetic recovery. While there is still a lack of research concerning environmental impacts of the GPN of second-hand clothes on countries in the Global South (Watson et al. 2016), empirical research shows that actors in the European production network of second-hand clothes create and distribute environmental value for society, through their performed activities of collecting and sorting discarded textiles for redistribution on the second-hand clothing market, or the international recycling market.