Reported from the source

Quick summary: The European Union is set to ban the destruction of new clothing starting in July, a practice widely documented among online retailers and fashion chains. Despite the ban, the new law is noted to have significant loopholes, as millions of new garments are destroyed annually, alongside other brand-new or returned goods.

For years, media outlets and environmental organizations have exposed the large-scale destruction of goods by online retailers and brand manufacturers. This includes both customer returns and factory-new, untouched merchandise. A former Amazon works council member described the process in a shipping warehouse as simply “press on, goods in, press off” to ZDF Frontal in 2018. Secretly recorded images have shown various items, from cooking pots and chainsaws to pallets of baby blankets and jeans, awaiting destruction in warehouses or incinerators. Under the new Ecodesign Directive, the EU aims to prohibit the destruction of new clothing from July. However, critics point out that the legislation contains considerable gaps, despite the fact that shipping companies and fashion chains destroy millions of new garments every year.

Source: www.derstandard.at