Separate collection of textiles required from the beginning of 2025 | In Principle

As of 1 January 2025, Poland requires separate collection of textile and clothing waste. In most communes, no new waste receptacles have been installed for this purpose, but failure to comply is subject to punitive fees.

EU requirements and Polish implementation

As of 1 January 2025, Directive (EU) 2018/851, amending the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), established an obligation for member states to enforce separate collection of textile waste. Under the current wording of Art. 11(1) of the Waste Framework Directive, subject to Art. 10(2)–(3), member states must establish separate collection of at least paper, metal, plastic and glass, and as of 1 January 2025 also textiles.

The requirements under EU law were implemented in Poland by the Act of 19 July 2019 Amending the Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Communes and Certain Other Acts. Polish officials had several years to prepare for these changes, but do not appear to have used the time well.

Pursuant to Art. 3(2)(6) of the Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Communes, communes must ensure cleanliness and orderliness within their territory and create conditions necessary for their maintenance, and in particular create selective collection points for communal waste, easily accessible for all residents of the commune, ensuring reception of at least:

• Communal waste listed in pt. 5 (i.e. paper, metals, plastics, glass, multi-material packaging waste, and bio waste)
• Hazardous waste
• Expired medications and chemicals
• Waste not qualifying as medical waste, generated in households as a result of receiving injectable medicinal products and monitoring of levels of substances in the blood (in other words, needles and syringes)
• Used batteries
• Used waste electrical and electronic equipment
• Furniture and other bulky waste
• Used tires
• Textile and clothing waste
• Construction and demolition waste from households.

Additionally, under Art. 4(2)(1)(b), the rules for maintaining cleanliness and order in the commune must include detailed requirements for selective collection of the types of communal waste listed above.

Pursuant to Art. 14 of the amending act, the obligation to accept textile and clothing waste at separate collection points for communal waste is applicable as of 1 January 2025.

Sanctions

Under these provisions, as of the beginning of this year, textile and clothing waste can no longer be disposed of in containers for mixed waste. However, the vast majority of communes in Poland do not have additional bins or bags for this waste stream. This means that the burden of meeting the new requirements falls almost entirely on the inhabitants. At the same time, failure to segregate textile and clothing waste carries serious consequences.

Pursuant to Art. 6ka(1) of the Act on Maintaining Cleanliness and Order in Communes, if a property owner fails to fulfil the obligation of separate collection of communal waste, the entity collecting communal waste should accept it as non-segregated (mixed) communal waste and then notify the head of the commune (e.g. the mayor of the city) and the property owner. Under these circumstances, the head of the commune should initiate proceedings to determine the amount of the communal waste management fee. Subsequently, the head of the commune will issue a decision setting the communal waste management fee for the month or months (or in the case of a property on which a summer house stands, or other property used for recreational and leisure purposes, for the year) in which the separate collection obligation was not fulfilled. Pursuant to a resolution of the commune council, the increased fee may range from 200% to 400% of the waste management fee.

In the rulings from the administrative courts, the prevailing view is that mere demonstration of one case of non-compliance with the adopted rules for waste segregation requires imposition on the interested entity of a fee at the specific rate for non-selective waste collection (e.g. judgments of the Supreme Administrative Court of 14 June 2022, case no. III FSK 4968/21, and 19 May 2022, case no. III FSK 14/22).

Among other reasons, this view is justified by the higher costs for communes associated with the need to manage poorly collected communal waste. The firm and clear language of the act on this point is also cited as an argument for this rigorous interpretation. In practice, this means that even a single failure to comply with these obligations can have serious financial consequences.

What next?

There is no doubt that the requirement for separate collection of textile and clothing waste will remain in force in the coming years, as it follows directly from EU law. Indeed, it cannot be ruled out that EU lawmakers will soon adopt more far-reaching solutions for textiles, including measures provided for in the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles.

However, whether Poland has properly implemented the EU rules in this area is open to serious question. The basic problem is access by inhabitants to selective collection points for waste in their commune. This lack of access may have a negative impact on implementation of the new provisions.

Entry into force of the new provisions was also not preceded by adequate information campaigns. Therefore, it is unclear whether information about the new obligations reached the inhabitants of communes. It is difficult to expect an increase in levels of separate collection of waste when the people subject to this obligation do not even know about it.

Release by the Ministry of Climate and Environment in mid-January 2025 of a seven-point, extremely general catalogue of best practice for separate collection of textile and clothing waste should be considered too little too late. Such solutions should have been prepared much earlier, in consultation with communes and their inhabitants, rather than two weeks after the new regulations began to apply. Moreover, it is not clear why the solutions presented by the ministry were not at least partially included in the actual regulations. This is particularly problematic because failure to meet the new obligations will place a financial burden primarily on local communes and inhabitants.

Karol Maćkowiak, Environment practice, Wardyński & Partners