As a pioneer of urban environmentalism, Lahti is piloting a textile deposit system. As a world-first experiment, the city offers a small incentive for recyclers. Join in and help us pick up the threads on textile waste.
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Finland took a step towards a circular economy for textiles at the beginning of the year, as a
new law requiring cities and municipalities to make separate collection bins for textile waste
available to all Finns came into effect. The separate collection of textile waste makes it possible
for discarded clothes and household textiles to be reused as recycled fiber.
The average European throws away 11kg of textiles every year. Around the world, a truckload
of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every single second. Separate collection of textile waste is
set to be rolled out across the EU by 2025, but to change our bad textile habits, a lot of work is
needed. Lahti’s textile deposit hopes to inspire a change in consumer behavior.
As a pioneer in urban environmentalism, Lahti has set a goal of being a waste free city by
2050. The textile deposit is a great example of an everyday innovation that directly aims to
minimize the amount of waste and showcases the potential of discarded textiles as a raw
material for industries and design.