Garbage sorting. As of January 1, 2025, a new segment for textiles, clothing and footwear

According to Prawa.pl, nowadays used clothes and shoes often end up in mixed waste bins. A small part of it is collected and reused by charitable organizations or processed into cleaning cloths (materials used in industrial facilities and service workshops to wipe off heavy dirt from grease, oil, paint, etc., recycled rags are used for this purpose). The rest is usually burned. Prawa.pl reminds that the European Union decided a few years ago that this should change and adopted Directive 2018/81 of May 30, 2018, amending the Waste Framework Directive of 2008. It set the zero hour for used textiles in 2025. – It is not necessary to collect this waste from the homes of residents. Although the municipality can, of course, expand the fractions received “at the source”. But I do not know of any municipality that would make such an extension. The obligation to collect textiles separately arises from the Act of 13 September 1996 on maintaining cleanliness and order in municipalities – as Mateusz Karsiarz, lawyer from the law firm Zygmunt Jerzmanowski i Wspólnicy, points out on Prawa.pl.

Currently, this waste is accepted at the collection points of selective municipal waste (PSZOK). Many municipalities have long included in their regulations that residents must collect textiles separately. But this does not mean that these regulations are followed conscientiously. Today, as Karol Wojciech, Chairman of the Program Council of the Municipal Chamber of Industry, says on Prawa.pl, only a small amount of clothing or shoes is sent to PSZOK, the vast majority of which ends up in mixed waste.

– So what should a resident far from PSZOK do after January 1, 2025? – the authors of Prawo.pl wonder. In many places, collections are carried out by charitable organizations, some put up containers for clothes, others advertise the collection of textiles from homes, valuable clothes are collected in shopping centers and workplaces. However, a less valuable one can be a problem. And residents cannot count on systematic collection from their homes. – There is no point in buying one blouse. If the municipalities wanted to, we could, of course, provide such a collection. But they would commit economic suicide if they collected textiles with the same frequency as other parts of municipal waste – the cost is too high. There is no need, just ask yourself how often you clean your wardrobe. However, I see the point in collecting them, as in the case of dimensions, for example 2-3 times a year – concludes Karol Wójcik in Prawa.pl.