Abstract
The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles published in March 2022 set out the aim of proposing binding targets for the preparation for reuse and recycling of textile waste as part of the revision of EU waste legislation planned for 2024. To set such concrete targets for the reuse and recycling of textiles including subsequent oversizing of collection and recycling capacities, however, it is necessary to know the scheme of the current situation in the management of textile waste. The ideal tool for visualization is material flow analysis (MFA). However, such a comprehensive data analysis has not yet been carried out in the Czech Republic. Statistical database on the production of textile waste, which is the basis for the planning and fulfillment of any strategy and which would be a basic building block for the creation of MFA, is however currently incomplete in the Czech Republic.
Recognizing data gaps, several basic research steps were taken as a basis for developing at least a conceptual framework for MFA. The first was the analysis of key actors, which consisted of a quantitative part (questionnaire survey) and a qualitative part (semi-structured in-depth interviews). The participants were representatives of the entire life cycle of textiles - manufacturers, small and large textile enterprises, recyclers, etc., and their collection was carried out using the "snowball" method. Participants were asked about their knowledge of textile waste production, types of recycling and organizations working with textile waste, as well as barriers to the development of a circular economy in practice. The second step for the preparation of the MFA was the analysis of the amount of textile waste represented today in mixed municipal waste (MSW). Based on the experience of the authors of the research with the implementation of physical analyzes of waste, textile waste in SKO began to appear as an important material flow that is not part of official statistical data, but it is clearly an important flow that should not be missing from the MFA concept for the Czech Republic.
The contribution therefore also summarizes the results of analyzes of 64 SKO samples carried out in the Czech Republic by the INCIEN organization between 2016-2021.
The third step is the creation of the concept of the MFA itself, which, however, does not aim to be exhaustive and to provide accurate data, since, as already mentioned, some are not available, or are estimated or completely missing. The resulting MFA concept can thus be followed up by further research, which, however, should go hand in hand with a dialogue with the collection authorities data on waste so that in the following years some data will be recorded and thus fill in the missing places in the current statistical inputs, and in the future the MFA of textile waste for the Czech Republic can be drawn up with the highest possible accuracy.
The goal of this work was to create the basis for the analysis of the flow of textile waste for the Czech Republic and to accurately describe the local system of how textile waste is handled. The findings of the study show that discussion and data collection on this topic are necessary for future research as well as concrete policy actions. Although the results represent only the Czech Republic, they can be a valuable input for precise goal setting and a model for similar analyzes carried out in other EU countries. The paper also points to the absence of partial data and points to the need for further, detailed research in this area.