The European Union (EU) is leading the way in encouraging the world to develop a “circular economy”—one that encourages product reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling instead of the traditional linear “take, make, waste” approach. The European Textile Services Association (ETSA) has alerted members on a related government study of textiles’ potential role in this conversion.

ETSA’s positions and the European Commission’s (EC’s) findings pose questions for textile services operators worldwide regarding how the industry might fundamentally align itself with this shift. ETSA notes that the industry “is inherently circular, with repairs, recycling, upcycling and responsible practices being the ...