Factors shaping end-of-life management of short-lived consumer goods: A comparison between plastic packaging and textiles

Packaging and textiles are among the largest applications for synthetic plastics, offering relatively high performance, low weight, and low costs compared to other materials. These short-lived consumer goods are made from a variety of plastics, are discarded relatively quickly after purchase and subsequently end up together in waste management systems. Furthermore, these products exhibit relatively high leakage rates to the environment. Hence, it is important to develop effective end-of-life (EOL) management systems that retain materials in the loop for as long as possible. This study investigates whether differences in the maturity of EOL systems in the Netherlands affect the waste management systems, particularly considering the relatively shorter history of EPR schemes in the textile sector. For packaging, where the EPR scheme is more mature, a net recycling rate of 43% was achieved. In contrast, the textiles EOL system achieved a reuse and recycling rate of approximately 20% and 10%, respectively. Despite the implementation of EPR systems, the Dutch EOL management systems of plastic packaging and textiles face technical, organisational and financial challenges that prevent the system from progressing towards more circularity. This study shows that EOL management can help control material flows and increase recycling rates. However, recycling systems are never fully closed and EOL management cannot eliminate all sources of environmental pollution, such as microplastic emissions from washing and wear. It may even introduce new point sources, such as emissions from recycling facilities.