Seamless – industry-led voluntary product stewardship scheme for clothing textiles

Overview

The purpose of the grant is to assist Seamless, an industry-led voluntary product stewardship scheme that addresses the environmental impacts of clothing textiles and supports circular economy outcomes. Clothing textiles was first added to the Minister’s product stewardship priority list under the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 (RaWR Act) in 2021 to encourage industry-led voluntary product stewardship action, with additional funding support for Seamless provided in MYEFO 2024-25. The objectives of the grant are to support Seamless to help develop a circular economy for clothing textiles (which may also include workwear and uniforms) in Australia. The circular economy rethinks the way resources are used to support environmental, economic and social outcomes. This approach maintains a circular flow of materials by recovering, retaining, or adding to their value. The objectives of the grant are to: support collaboration and information sharing to improve the sustainability of the clothing textile industry across the supply chain, particularly with peak representative organisations for the recycling and remanufacturing, waste and resource recovery sectors identify and define, in consultation with peak representative organisations for the recycling and remanufacturing, waste and resource recovery sectors, relevant measures for textiles recycling and remanufacturing outcomes in Australia (for example, definitions or standards); or define any gaps in these areas conduct pilot collection and domestic recycling projects in locations across Australia to inform implementation of a scalable national model for collection and domestic recycling, to reduce waste to landfill demonstrate a viable, evidence-based and scalable industry-led and funded voluntary stewardship model to coordinate and deliver stewardship.