EU proposes new rules to discourage disposable fast fashion

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union plans to counter the polluting use of fast fashion and is warning consumers to stop using their clothes like disposable facial tissues. New rules proposed by the EU’s executive arm on Wednesday call for a mandatory minimum use of recycled fibers by 2030 and would ban the destruction of many unsold products. The European Commission rules also seek to contain the release of microplastics and improve global labor conditions in the garment industry. Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said the EU wants “sustainable products to become the norm.” In 2019, the 27-nation bloc imported over 80 billion euros in clothes, mainly from China, Bangladesh and Turkey.