Dansk 
Producer responsibility for textiles is established by the EU in the Waste Framework Directive (Directive – EU – 2025/1892 – EN – EUR-Lex).
This means it is mandatory for all EU member states to introduce rules that make textile producers responsible for the entire value chain, from production to disposal.
In practice, this means that producers must report data to the national authorities and cover the costs of collecting and treating waste from their products. These obligations can be met through a collective scheme such as Tekstilretur.
In Denmark, we are already familiar with producer responsibility for electronics, batteries, packaging, fishing equipment, and single-use plastics.
Tekstilretur offers pre-registration for producers. The registration is not yet binding, as there is still considerable uncertainty surrounding the upcoming producer responsibility requirements.
You may therefore terminate your membership with 3 months’ notice until one month after Tekstilretur’s articles of association have been adopted. If membership has not been cancelled by this date, you will continue as a permanent member of Tekstilretur.
Ready to register your company?
Tekstilretur is a producer responsibility organisation within the Retur family and operates on a non-profit basis. This means that the income from members must balance with the costs Tekstilretur incurs on behalf of its members for waste management, IT systems, financial guarantees, etc.
Tekstilretur’s finances depend on the quantities members report for each type of textile. Based on the reported quantities, the authorities assign Tekstilretur obligations to manage textile waste. These obligations represent by far the largest cost item and form the basis of the budget.
To cover these costs, Tekstilretur charges members what are known as environmental contributions. The environmental contributions are presented in the autumn to the section boards and then to the board of directors for final approval.
Membership of the section boards is open to all, meaning all members have the opportunity to gain insight into Tekstilretur’s finances. In the spring, the accounts for the previous year are presented to the section boards and the board of directors. Any deficits or surpluses are handled within this member democracy.
In addition to the environmental contributions to Tekstilretur, there will also be contributions to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and Dansk Producentansvar. These are set by the authorities and Tekstilretur has no influence over them.
The price level for producer responsibility for textiles was previously estimated by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency in the report: Analysis of the Economic and Environmental Consequences of Introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for Textile Producers (in Danish).
However, the textile waste market has changed significantly since then, unfortunately in a negative direction, and the calculations are therefore no longer an accurate reflection of the costs currently seen in the market.
The extent to which producer responsibility for textiles affects an individual company can vary greatly, depending on whether textiles are the company’s core business or a niche area.
Regardless of what type of producer your company is, you will need to address the requirements in this area if you are a producer or importer of clothing textiles, home textiles or footwear. Producer responsibility for mattresses may also be introduced.
The requirements are expected to come into force in Denmark by April 2028 at the latest. The national statutory order will describe precisely what producer responsibility for textiles entails.
To be compliant as a company with producer responsibility, you will need to have a firm grasp of the following:
Tekstilretur helps you meet your obligations through tools on MitRetur (for members only), webinars and email reminders about deadlines. Our colleagues in Member Services are also always available to answer questions by email and phone.
Tekstilretur has established collaborations with other producer responsibility organisations in both the Nordic region and the rest of Europe to make it easier for our members to meet their obligations in multiple countries.
Through Nordic PRO, we collaborate with Norsirk in Norway and TMR in Sweden. Finland has yet to establish a producer responsibility organisation for textiles. This close collaboration aims to reduce the administrative burden on our members in managing producer responsibility. Through Nordic PRO, we are working to:
In practical terms, this means that Danish members of Tekstilretur will be able to report quantities in Norway, Sweden and Finland together with their Danish quantities, so that ongoing compliance across four countries can be managed in one go.
Retur is also a longstanding member of Pronexa, a European platform for producer responsibility organisations. Through our involvement in Pronexa, we are working to make it easier for our members to meet producer responsibility requirements in other European countries.
As your producer responsibility organisation, we help you make reporting as straightforward as possible, so you can focus on your core business.
But we also take on a significant task in managing your products once they become waste. This involves the daily contract management of operators who collect, transport, sort and recycle the textiles handed in by consumers. This work entails a separate set of data obligations for the collected and treated quantities, which must be reported to the authorities on your behalf. In this way, we ensure proof that you as producers have met the requirement to manage the waste from your products correctly.
Requirements are continuously rising, which is why we also work to stay ahead and look towards new opportunities that can improve the quality of recycling. At the same time, we focus on economies of scale, as this provides the best basis for negotiating competitive prices and keeping environmental contributions low for our members.
As part of the Retur family, we manage producers’ responsibilities across the entire value chain:
