End-of-life textile collection system exploring design & performance

Purpose: EU regulation obliges establishing separate collection of end-of-life (EOL) textile by 2025 to deal with a resource-consuming and polluting industry and stimulating the development of circular systems. Based on Nordic pilot studies, this paper aims to increase the understanding of how to design a collection system that facilitates high collection volume and quality. Design/methodology/approach: Design science using the CIMO logic (context-intervention-mechanisms-outcome) is applied as the study deals with a practical problem and aims to come up with propositions on how to design a collection system generating high volumes and quality. Nine pilots on separate collection of textiles have been conducted and analyzed. The pilots differ in terms of the Context such as the actors involved, the Interventions such as how and where collection was carried out, the Mechanism such as motivation of customers to conduct sorting, and Outcome such as collection volumes and desired quality. Findings: Three propositions were generated based on the results of the study: 1) Centralising collection may be preferable from a collection volume perspective, while for quality the results are mixed: 2) Consumer pre-sorting fraction system support the subsequent sorting: 3) NGOs have an important role to play in the separate collection system of reusable and recyclable textiles and incentives should be considered to support the role. Research limitations/implications: The study contributes to the reverse logistics literature by evaluating real-life solutions to the first-mile problem of EOL textiles. Further research is needed to understand the impact of household related context elements on sorting mechanisms, how collection design affects the balance of cost and consumer convenience and means of consumer communication. Practical implications: The study outlines the design elements and sets guidelines that can be used by municipalities, NGOs and other actors when designing EOL textile collection systems. Original/value: The results offer insights on efficiency of various EOL textile collection systems in various contexts, supporting the design of new systems.