New fashion recycling scheme to reduce clothing landfill | ABC News

Australia's biggest fashion retailers are being threatened with a mandatory levy on garment sales, after many big names failed to sign up to a new scheme to tackle the 200,000 tonnes of old clothes going into landfill every year. Subscribe: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-07/big-w-david-jones-iconic-sign-up-to-tackle-fashion-waste/102444772

The Seamless scheme launches today and is being led by the industry's peak body, the Australian Fashion Council (AFC), which received $1 million from the previous federal government to set up the scheme.

The AFC confirmed it directly approached 30 major Australian clothing retailers to be founding members.

Signing up is voluntary and imposes a 4 cent per garment levy on the signatories' sales, with the money to be put towards initiatives such as sustainable design, the resale of used items, and textile recycling.

So far only six brands have signed up: Big W, David Jones, Lorna Jane, Rip Curl, RM Williams and The Iconic.

The AFC says it needs 60 per cent market adoption to raise $36 million per year, making its current membership far below what is needed.

In a speech delivered today at the launch of Seamless in Sydney, which had been sent exclusively to the ABC, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek told tell the rest of the fashion industry it had 12 months to sign up or else face regulation directly.

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