- The Biodiversity Foundation publishes a new call for grants to reduce the consumption of virgin raw materials, reduce the generation of waste and improve its management, and promote digitization or R&D for eco-design.
The Biodiversity Foundation, under the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), has launched a new call for grants to promote the circular economy in the textile, fashion and clothing, and footwear sector, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. 97.5 million and will finance the best selected initiatives, with amounts ranging from 100,000 euros to 10 million euros per project and beneficiary entity.
This call seeks to align itself with the European Strategy for the circularity and sustainability of textile products, and with the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy to reduce the presence of hazardous substances in fabrics, avoid the release of microplastics, promote the durability of fabrics, or encourage reuse and recycling in closed cycles, promoting circular models.
The call also includes the acquisition of digital tools with the purpose of reducing the generation of pre-consumer waste, from prototyping to dead stock, including cutting scraps, production leftovers and post-consumer waste generated, for example, in the return of clothing; also the promotion of custom manufacturing on demand and, therefore, improve the efficiency of industrial processes and reduce the carbon, water and material footprint of this sector.
In short, the purpose of these grants is to promote the sustainability and circularity of industrial and business processes in order to improve competitiveness and innovation in the textile and fashion industry, within the framework of a circular economy, which overcomes the previous linear production model.
The deadline for submitting nominations is June 10. Actions in the textile and fashion and clothing and footwear sectors that reduce the consumption of virgin raw materials, reduce the generation of waste and/or improve waste management by substantially contributing to the transition to a circular economy in one of the following categories are eligible for this aid: research and development for eco-design; digitalization to innovate in terms of processes and organization; increase the level of environmental protection of the beneficiary entity receiving the aid; and/or improve the management of waste from third parties.
The call is expected to be resolved by the end of 2024. All selected projects must be completed by June 30, 2027 at the latest.
COMMITMENT TO THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
The Spanish Circular Economy Strategy (EEEC), Spain Circular 2030, approved in June 2020, lays the foundations for promoting a new production and consumption model in which the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, in which the extraction of resources and the generation of waste are minimized and those that cannot be avoided are used to the greatest extent possible.
The Strategic Plan for the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience in Circular Economy (PERTE EC), approved in May 2022 by Agreement of the Council of Ministers, identifies the textile sector as a priority and strategic for Spain in view of the dynamism of the textile, fashion and clothing and footwear sector, partly linked to unsustainable production and consumption models associated with high environmental impacts marked by low rates of use, reuse, repair and integration of new technologies that allow high quality recycling.
Thus, the textile and fashion and footwear sector contributed 2.7% to the Spanish Gross Domestic Product in 2022, with Spain being one of the few countries in the European Union to have a leading industry that includes fiber preparation, spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing, printing and finishing, as well as leading global apparel manufacturers and companies.
In the EU, the consumption of textile products, most of which are imported, currently represents, on average, the fourth highest negative impact on the environment and climate change, and the third highest in water and land use from a life cycle perspective on a global scale. Every year around 5.8 million tons of textile products are discarded in the EU, 900,000 tons in Spain alone, where each person discards around 20 kilos of clothing per year.
