Clothes bubbles overflow everywhere in Belgium. If summer is traditionally a sorting period in wardrobes, the current influx is largely exceeding the seasonal effect. Between the new European obligation to collect textiles and overconsumption linked to fast fashion, the textile re -use sector is out of breath.
Summer months are often conducive to garage sales: people are on leave, they prepare for the start of the school year and sort through their wardrobe. Result: second -hand clothing collection bubbles overflow. The seasonal effect has something to do with it, but not only. “This effect has existed since the dawn of time, we have adapted to it thanks to logistical attention and reinforced teams,” explains Jean-Baptiste Verjans, sales and logistics manager at Terre Asbl. But during this summer period, two other factors disturb the organization: firstly a new European directive which requires selective collection of clothing, and secondly, a massive influx of textiles from Fast Fashion.
Since January 1, 2025, a European directive has required selective clothing collection. In other words, It is now forbidden to throw old clothes, shoes or even household linen, whether in good condition and or damaged or even holes, in the bag or the container of residual waste ; With the exception of wet or soiled textiles. Result: the textile re -use sector is found under pressure. “We have gone from the status of structure which collected donations of clothing to that of waste collection operator,” insists Franck Kerckhof, spokesperson for the Resources Federation which represents 79 social and circular enterprises in the sector of reuse of goods and materials. And not to improve anything, 20% of what we find in bubbles are non -textile waste.
In addition to this new regulation, fast fashion greatly contributes to the overflow of bubbles. In 2024, the sector collected 31,000 tonnes of textiles, an increase of almost 16 % over a year in Wallonia and Brussels. The previous 20 years, this growth did not exceed 3%, explains Franck Kerckhof. Decadent growth which is mainly explained by overconsumption of low -end clothes. In less than ten years, textile consumption has doubled by citizen. Each year, each Belgian separates from sixteen kilos of clothes, instead of eight ten years ago. More volumes of less quality. “And with the arrival of Vinted, better quality clothes are no longer captured by our collections.”
Dazzling growth
This will not improve: between 2023 and 2025, in Wallonia and Brussels, 25,500 tonnes were collected by the sector over a year. “It is estimated to reach, at the end of 2025, 35,000 tonnes over a year. Knowing that a truck can take care of five tonnes, I let you do the calculation, ”says Kerckhof. It would therefore take nearly 2,000 additional trucks compared to 2023 to collect all the textiles present in the bubbles. For the Resources Federation, “the situation is unprecedented”.
Textile reuse companies regret that nothing has been set up to finance and collect this surplus. And the new regulation “implies a heavier logistics to continue to maintain an optimal service: bubbles to be emptied much more frequently, more drivers, more trucks, more complex sorting …”, denounced in a common press release at the end of July, Oxfam and the little things.
In Wallonia, to support the sector, the government adopted a set of measures on July 17. Among them, the gradual implementation of a transitional indemnity, the time of setting up a scheme of expansion of the producer (REP) textiles, expected during 2028, which consists in entrusting producers with the responsibility for textile waste management, their collection to their valuation, in a logic of circular economy. In Brussels, the absence of government does not allow, for the time being, to advance on solutions transient.
On a citizen scale, the network recalls not to deposit its second -hand textiles if a bubble is full in order to prevent this from turning into wild deposits, and to go to the next; A mapping of collection points is accessible on the Federation Resources Federation website. In some municipalities, fines can go up to 250 euros for non-compliance. In the event that everything is saturated, it is asked to keep your textiles at your home while the seasonal effect fades and to return in October-November. “You have to be patient,” concludes Jean-Baptiste Verjans.
Laura Dubois