EU Commission Prohibits Destroying Unsold Clothes as ESPR Rules Take Effect in July

The European Commission has adopted a binding ban on the destruction of unsold clothing and footwear, prohibiting large companies from incinerating or discarding surplus stock starting July 19, 2026. The regulation is the first of its kind to directly address textile waste generated by excess inventory at the corporate level, and it is backed by mandatory disclosure requirements that begin in February 2027.

What the ban covers

Under the new rules, large companies are banned from destroying unsold apparel, clothing accessories, and footwear from July 19, 2026. Medium sized companies are expected to comply from 2030.

The ban is part of the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which sets broader requirements for product durability, repairability and circularity. It specifically targets textiles and footwear, two high volume categories where destruction of unsold goods has been a common practice.

Disclosure and derogations

Companies must disclose the volumes of unsold goods they discard using a standardized format, with the first reporting cycle starting in February 2027. That disclosure requirement applies to large companies now and extends to medium sized firms in 2030.

Destruction will still be permitted in specific, justified cases such as safety reasons or product damage, with national authorities overseeing compliance. The Delegated Act clarifies those exceptions to prevent abuse while acknowledging genuine health and safety risks.

The scale of the problem

In Europe, an estimated 4 to 9 percent of unsold textiles are destroyed before ever being worn, generating approximately 5.6 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year, roughly equivalent to Sweden’s total net emissions in 2021.

In France alone, around 630 million euros worth of unsold products are destroyed annually, while in Germany, nearly 20 million returned items from online shopping are discarded each year. Those figures help explain why the Commission framed the ban as both an environmental and a competitiveness issue.

Policy context and next steps

Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, said, “The textile sector is leading the way in the transition to sustainability but there are still challenges. The numbers on waste show the need to act. With these new measures the textile sector will be empowered to move towards sustainable and circular practices, and we can boost our competitiveness and reduce our dependencies.”

Instead of discarding stock, companies are encouraged to manage inventory more effectively and explore alternatives such as resale, remanufacturing, donations or reuse. The regulation does not directly address overproduction, which remains a structural driver of surplus stock and waste in the fashion industry.

For brands, retailers, and supply chain operators, the July 2026 deadline represents a hard cutoff for disposal based inventory management in the EU market, pushing responsibility for excess stock toward circular pathways rather than incineration or landfill.