UPV Textiles: what it means for you

  • Danitsja Kallendorf
  • The basis
  • 15 May 2023
  • Edited 21 November 2024
  • 3 min
  • Managing and growing
  • Sustainability

Do you produce or import textiles such as bed linen, table linen and towels or clothing for consumers and businesses? Then you have to comply with the UPV Textiles. In short, this means: what you put on the market, you also collect. Read here what the UPV means for you.

Half of all textiles still end up in residual waste. In the Netherlands, that is about 305 kilotonnes of textiles a year. The government wants this to change. That is why, since 1 July 2023, the Besluit uitgebreide producentenverantwoordelijkheid Textiel (Decree on Extended Producer Responsibility for Textiles, UPV, in Dutch) is in place. The idea behind it is that producers are not only responsible for making products, but also for what happens to these items when their customer discards them. The new rule ensures that the textile sector itself has to arrange and pay for the waste management of their products. By doing so, the government is encouraging the industry to reduce waste as much as possible and use more recycled textiles.

Extended producer responsibility is not new. The car industry, for example, has been responsible for waste management of car tyres since 2020. Manufacturers of household appliances also have to deal with UPV.

Who does the UPV Textiles apply to?

Do you import or produce textiles for the Dutch market? And are you the first to market these products? Then the UPV applies to you. The duty applies to all producers and importers in the fashion and textile industry. From the largest fashion chains to the small boutique on the corner.

UPV Textiles: what should I do?

You have two options: join a joint initiative or tackle waste management on your own. 

Join a producer organisation

Do you want to spend as little time as possible on your UPV obligation? Then you can choose to join a producer organisation such as Stichting UPV Textiles, an initiative of sector organisations Modint and INretail. You can also join European Recyling Platform Netherlands or the Collectief Circulair Textiel (Circular Textile Collective). A producer organisation manages the entire waste process: from collection to recycling and from payments to reporting. It works like this:

  1. You join the producer organisation.
  2. Every year, you tell the organisation how many textiles you expect to bring to the market. The following year you report the exact amount
  3. You pay your annual contribution on that basis. You only pay for textile you actually brought to market.
  4. The producer organisation organises the collection system. Stichting UPV Textiles, for example, uses the existing textile containers. So at these places, consumers can also hand in your products. The foundation makes agreements with municipalities about this.
  5. Producer organisations also make agreements with textile collectors, sorters, recycling shops, and recyclers.
  6. It is the task of the producer organisation to report on recycling targets to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Rijkswaterstaat.

Register once

Textile producers and importers have to report to the government. Are you starting a business? Then report within six weeks of starting it. In doing so, you indicate the type and quantity of textiles you expect to sell in the next 12 months. Are you joining a producer organisation? Then the organisation will make the notification for you.

Waste management will look like this after the introduction of UPV for Textiles:

  • Producers make textiles 
  • Importers/producers market textiles
  • Customers buy and use textiles
  • Customers discard textiles
  • Textiles are collected and sorted 
  • Textiles are recycled or repaired 
  • Then the product or just the raw materials are reused and the process starts all over again.

Organise your own waste management

Do you choose to organise it yourself? Then follow these steps:

  1. Set up a place where your customers can hand in the used clothes or textiles for free.
  2. Tell your customers how they can return used textiles to you and what happens yo the returned textiles.
  3. Then you get to work with the used fabrics. First, you check whether the items brought in are suitable for reuse. For example, can you clean, repair, and resell used clothing yourself?
  4. Textiles that you do not reuse yourself, you offer for recycling, for example to textile collectors. They treat the waste in a special way so that the material can be used again. For example, to make new fabrics. What is left over after that, you take to a waste processor.
  5. You also must report how much textile you have sold before 1 August of every year to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. If you fail to do so or report fraudulent infomration, you risk fines or even closure of your business.

From 2026, the government will extend this reporting obligation. You will then have to report for the year 2025 exactly  what happens to your textile waste. And how this contributes to government targets for reuse and recycling of textiles (in Dutch).

Frequently asked questions about the UPV Textiles

Shoes, bags, belts (not textile products), blankets, net curtains, curtains, blinds, bedspreads, bags, tarpaulins, sails, tents, mops, dishcloths, cleaning cloths, and dusters. Unsold stock and stock returned to manufacturers in case of a cancelled sale are also not covered by UPV Textiles. You do not market these items, and therefore they are not covered.

The business that first sells the textile product on the Dutch market is UPV liable. It does not matter whether you sell to a producer or consumer.

No, the UPV only applies to sales on the Dutch market. However, please note that other countries may have a similar obligation.

The UPV Textiles does not apply to retailers who only sell second-hand clothing.

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