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Private consumption: Textiles EU's fourth largest cause of environmental pressures after food, housing, transport

News Published 19 Nov 2019 Last modified 23 Nov 2020

2 min read

Photo: © Nick de Partee on Unsplash

Consumption of clothing, footwear and household textiles in the European Union (EU) uses annually about 1.3 tonnes of raw materials and more than 100 cubic metres of water per person, according to a European Environment Agency briefing, published today. A wide-scale change towards circular economy in textiles production and consumption is needed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, resource use and pressures on nature.