The UK fashion industry is advancing its efforts to understand what Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation for the textiles industry could look like in the next phase of the EPR Sandbox Project.
Following the release of the Sandbox white paper in September, the UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) and WEFT have announced a three month continuation of the project, designed to gather further information about the potential implications of a textiles EPR.
Developed with QSA Partners, the Sandbox project outlined how a variable fee structure could be applied to clothing within the UK market, offering a calibrated approach to incentivise sustainable practices.
It argues that by tailoring fees to specific product attributes, the EPR system could encourage design and material innovation in the textile industry. This approach would allow for a more equitable distribution of responsibility by rewarding companies that invest in sustainability.
Next phase to focus on small and medium-sized brands
The next stage, which will be conducted in partnership with UKFT members Margaret Howell, TBCo, and John Smedley, aims to further understand how this fee system could be tailored to incentivise all textile brands.
Discussing the partnership, Tim Clark, Technical Director at John Smedley, said: “As part of the original project chaired by UKFT & QSA partners, I am happy to continue working on the Sandbox Project and help to deliver a fair system that can be sustainably achieved by all.”
The project will take a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who could be disproportionately burdened by EPR requirements. It hopes to design systems that consider the scale and resources of SMEs to advise future EPR policy.
Kristina Bull, co-founder of WEFT, commented on the need to include SMEs in EPR decision-making processes: “ It is vital we create an EPR system that enables SMEs to participate in a meaningful way and does not cripple them with rigid reporting expectations. By consulting with businesses now we can trial new concepts and ideas, and make sure the system created works for all businesses whatever their size.”
Clark added: “As an SME company we have a significant role to play to ensure that the modulation process is fairly created, administered and policed and how we can quickly produce data that can be scaled and analysed.”
Through a broader view of data, UKFT and WEFT hope to be able to better prepare the sector for any implementation of an EPR system.
Adam Mansell, CEO of UKFT, highlighted the importance of preparing for EPR: “Their efforts will help shape a fair, balanced and inclusive EPR system that works for businesses of all sizes, especially SMEs which make up the majority of our sector. We know EPR is coming so this work is crucial to ensure we can help to design a system that is effective, fair and as easy to implement for as many as possible.”