Plibersek prepared to step in if fashion industry doesn’t step up on recycling

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says she’s ready to regulate if more big fashion brands don’t sign up to an industry-led scheme that plans to put a levy on garments to reduce the amount of clothing that goes to landfill.

The Seamless scheme, launched by Plibersek in June last year and led by the Australian Fashion Council, aims to have 60 per cent of the clothing industry sign up by 2027 and has so far attracted brands including Big W, Cotton On Group, The Iconic and David Jones.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has put the fast fashion industry on notice.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

It has proposed a levy on signatory retailers, with funds raised going towards projects focused on clothing sustainability and recycling as well as education and research.

But critics including the Coalition, Kmart Group and the Australian Retailers Association argue Australia does not have the recycling infrastructure, and the levy risks being passed on to consumers during a cost-of-living crisis.

The fashion council estimates Australians buy 56 items of clothing on average a year, with 200,000 tonnes ending up in landfill.

Plibersek said it would be better for industry rather than government to lead the initiative, but she would like to see more big retail groups sign up.

“I’m not afraid to regulate,” she said.

“I think [retailers] very clearly heard the message that they’re on notice … more companies signing up to Seamless would be a really good sign that the fashion industry more broadly is taking responsibility for the quarter of a million tons of textiles that end up in landfill every year.”

Modelling by Seamless suggests the scheme would raise about $36 million a year if the levy was set at about 4 cents per garment sold, and 60 to 70 per cent of the industry by volume signed up. The levy is expected to be applied in 2024-25.

“$36 million a year – that is a significant amount, that’s an industry transformation,” Seamless general manager of industry transformation Danielle Kent said.

“Brands can decide how they apply that 4 cents within their own business model.”

Michelle Pacey, Cotton On’s general manager of product and a Seamless board member, said better recycling and circulating clothing was critical.

“Industry collaboration is essential to driving sustainable solutions, and this is why we’ve partnered with Seamless,” she said.

Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said the industry took sustainability seriously but raised concerns about a levy being passed on to consumers and argued the government needed to co-invest in recycling infrastructure.

“In the current cost-of-living crisis, low-cost garments play a significant role in providing an option for those that cannot afford to pay a higher price. The addition of a levy with a lack of infrastructure will cost more but result in clothes ending up in the same place – landfill,” he said.

A spokesperson for Kmart Group, one of the major retailers that has not signed up to the scheme, said the voluntary scheme had not delivered the participation from local and overseas retailers to fund the real costs of sorting and recycling clothing.

“The limited clothing sortation and recycling infrastructure remains the major roadblock to reducing clothing waste in Australia,” they said.

Opposition environment spokesman Jonathon Duniam also raised concerns about the scheme, accusing Plibersek of spruiking big changes but failing to deliver.

“[Plibersek] has specifically been told – including by Kmart, Australia’s largest fashion retailer – that the proposed national fashion recycling scheme has numerous flaws,” he said.

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