Sustainable Synergy: LA Leads Textile’s Green Transition
California Cool has come to mean a few things outside of the traditional definition of relaxed aesthetic, including the idea of keeping the Golden State cool—not just in terms of style, but climate as well.
From passing an electric vehicle mandate to a plastic bag ban, the state has taken some sustainable strides. In fact, California’s landmark textile reuse and recycling bill was quietly signed into law at the end of last month, making the state the first in the nation to implement a fashion- and textile-focused extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme.
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But how will these schemes function—and, more importantly, benefit—the fashion industry?
Sourcing Journal’s senior news and features editor Kate Nishimura explored this idea and more during the “California and the National Implications” panel at the inaugural SJ x Rivet Sustainability conference in Los Angeles on Sept. 26.
“What EPR allows us to do is change our focus from ‘what do we do with it once it’s waste’ to ‘how do we make sure this never becomes waste [and] how do we maximize the value of this product,’” Mindy McIntyre, chief deputy director at CalRecycle, said. “The No. 1 factor in whether EPR is successful or not, or whether there’s value to the industry and generally successful in meeting the state’s environmental and economic goals, is whether or not the manufacturers are invested in the success of that program because when there is energy from the folks that make these materials, we can really talk about some of the things that I heard: designing [by] looking at the end, at the beginning.”
And SB 707, the California Responsible Textile Recovery Act, asks the industry to develop a producer responsibility organization by 2026. CalRecycle, then, needs to develop regulations for plans and implementation by 2028.
“That might seem disjointed but the thing is, the bill really focuses on producers coming together and talking about meeting these goals,” McIntyre said. “There’s a growing awareness of the issue around textiles and the overall global impact of the lack of recycling or collection and reuse and the disposable nature of where textiles have gone in the last decade.”
On the city-specific side, the mayor of Los Angeles has championed the city’s Green New Deal, a Paris Agreement-compatible climate action plan that calls for a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025 as a means of reaching zero carbon by 2050.
“Los Angeles has long been a leader in recycling and trying to get things out of the waste streams so that they aren’t going to our landfills, trying to look sector by sector on how we can make progress on our climate goals and do it in a way that not only creates jobs but also creates economic opportunity,” Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor for energy and sustainability for the city of Los Angeles, said. “And there’s real opportunity when we look at the important industries here in Los Angeles, including the textile industry.”
For downtown’s Fashion District, that opportunity looks like the city operating as a “connective tissue,” linking the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation with producers interested in reuse, recycling and recovery.
“Our Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator…has a number of startups in the textile industry looking at opportunities for lower carbon footprint clothing and reuse of clothing,” Sutley said. “The city can really be a way to bring people together.”
Meanwhile, CalRecycle is working on the state’s first Zero Waste Plan, which examines California’s waste streams and, despite being a leader in diverting waste from landfills, still landfills a lot of material.
“What we’ve realized at CalRecycle and at the state level is that, if we just look at the waste component, we’re never going to get to our goals; we’re always fighting against disposable economies, essentially,” McIntyre said. “The Zero Waste Plan is really focused on recommendations to meet that gap between what our goals are on waste and how we get there.”
On the topic of California’s status as a leader in sustainability-focused regulation and innovation, the national—and international—impact of the state legislators’ work is not lost on McIntyre.
“What we are doing in California right now, in terms of EPR, our definitions of recycling are focused on source reduction—these are things that the world is grappling with right now,” she said. “When we do things in California, we can change the market.”
Sutley agreed, noting that Los Angeles is not just an important port city but an important global city.
“What we do here makes a difference in cities around the world, and cities like nothing better than to copy each other,” she said. “We call that ‘best practices,’ but really, it’s like, ‘Oh, you did it, maybe we can do the same thing.’ When the world comes to Los Angeles, we want them to see a city that is leading with its industries working toward a more sustainable L.A. and a more sustainable planet.”
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