“Why India Must Follow Europe’s Lead and Ban the Burning of Unsold Fashion”, Goa Chronicles, February 23, 2026
“On Monday, the European Commission did something that many governments talk about but rarely dare to implement: it drew a moral line through the fashion industry’s culture of excess. Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the European Union has banned medium and large companies from destroying unsold clothing, footwear and related accessories – a practice that for years has quietly fed landfills, belched carbon into the atmosphere and insulted common sense. From July 19, 2026, large companies in the EU will no longer be allowed to incinerate or discard unsold apparel. By 2030, medium-sized firms will follow. Companies will also be required to disclose how much unsold stock they discard, with standardised reporting beginning in 2027 for large firms. Exceptions will exist only for safety concerns or damaged products and will be subject to oversight. In other words, Europe has decided that waste disguised as business strategy is no longer acceptable.
India must pay attention – and not casually, but urgently. Because if Europe can impose sustainability discipline on its corporations, what exactly prevents India from doing the same? We are one of the world’s largest textile producers. Our cotton fields, spinning mills, dyeing units and garment factories employ millions. Our retail market is expanding at breakneck speed. Fast fashion floods our cities. Yet we have no specific national law banning the destruction of unsold clothing. We allow overproduction to masquerade as ambition and waste to masquerade as efficiency.
Let us be honest about what destruction of unsold apparel really means. Every garment represents water extracted from rivers, electricity consumed in factories, labour stitched into seams and fuel burned across supply chains. When a company burns unsold stock to “protect brand value,” it is not just destroying fabric – it is incinerating natural resources and human effort. In a country where farmers struggle with water scarcity and cities choke on pollution, how can we justify this…..”
Read full article at goachronicle.com
