EPR in Textiles: Turning Compliance into Opportunity

When the EU Comes to Panipat, It Means One Thing — The World Is Watching

- Parvinder Kadyan

Last month, the EU INTA (European Parliament's Committee on International Trade) delegation visited India for FTA discussions.

But what surprised and encouraged all of us in the industry was this:

They chose to visit the textile recycling cluster in Panipat.

Why?

Because Europe wants to see — Is India ready for the new wave of textile regulations?

Can our manufacturing ecosystem meet EPR, circularity, and traceability standards that will soon decide global sourcing?

The answer they saw was clear: India's circular backbone already exists — in Panipat, Tirupur, Ludhiana, Surat, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhiwandi, and beyond.

And now, with the next set of EU laws rolling out, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) will not just be a compliance requirement...

It will be one of the biggest business differentiators of this decade — in both topline (getting better buyers) and bottom line (reducing raw material cost).

The world is moving from “make → use→ throw" to "make→ use→ return→ remake." And the policy instrument driving this change is EPR - Extended Producer Responsibility.

In simple words, EPR makes the producer responsible for what happens to a product after its use. For the textile and apparel industry, that means brands and manufacturers will have to take responsibility for the waste their clothes generate.

India is drafting its own Textile EPR framework, while the EU EPR law (2025) will make it compulsory for all textiles entering the European market to have a take-back and recycling plan.

So, whether you are an exporter or a domestic manufacturer, EPR will soon become part of your business license to operate.