This year, separating used clothing from the rest of the household garbage stopped being a voluntary gesture in Spain and became an obligation. From 2025, The selective collection of used clothing is mandatory as part of the European strategy to promote the circular economy and reduce the volume of clothing that ends up in landfills.
The objective is to move towards a model in which products remain in use for longer, favoring reuse and recycling over discarding. In this line, the actions of some organizations that have been working on industry recycling for years, such as Moda re, become relevant. During the first year of application of the new regulations, it has collected 50.9 million kilos of clothing, footwear and accessoriesthrough its partners, represent more than 40% of the total selective collection in Spain. This makes them the main textile reuse operator in the country.
What is the management process
Moda re- is a non-profit social initiative promoted by Cáritas, heir to almost 40 years of experience collecting clothes in traditional parish closets. It was born in 2018, under a simple idea: work is the best tool against social exclusion. In 2020, it was formally established as a cooperative, uniting different local projects under the same used textile management model.
The network of Moda re- has more than 9,000 containers distributed throughout the Spanish territory, most of them sensorized to optimize routes and reduce costs and environmental impact. These clothes then arrive at one of the four textile treatment plants in cities such as; Sabadell, Madrid, Riba-roja de Túria and Munguía, to which a fifth will be added, under construction in Santiago de Compostela, that will expand capacity in the north of the peninsula.
There, the fate of each garment is decided following the waste hierarchy, always prioritizing reduction and reuse over recycling. What is in good condition is prepared for sale or social donation; What can no longer be reused is transformed, when possible, into new textile fibers.
Stores: school and employment
A part of these collected clothes end up in the more than 190 second-hand points of sale that Moda has spread across more than 100 cities on the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. They are stores designed to break the stereotypes of second-hand textiles: modern spaces where you can find clothing, footwear and accessories in good condition, along with surplus collections donated by companies.
These stores serve a double function. On the one hand, they offer the most needy people a free social delivery of clothing, with a standardized shopping experience. On the other hand, they function as school stores: staff in the process of job placement learn commercial management and customer service skills there, guided by retail professionals. The network already reaches 19.8 million people, which means that more than 40% of the Spanish population He has a Moda re- store in his municipality.
The organization brings together 50 insertion companieswhich only in the tasks of collecting and treating used clothing represent more than 1,600 jobsmany of these correspond to people at risk of social exclusion. In addition, more than 60% of the people accompanied by Moda re- He manages, at the end of his itinerary, to make the leap into the ordinary labor market. With the help of digitalization and professionalization, Moda seeks to position itself as a key player in the future textile waste management system at the national level. Therefore, understand that this role is not limited to logistics.
Faced with the new regulations
The organization also collaborates in innovation projects: it is part of Loopamid, the initiative led by Inditex together with the chemical company BASF that made it possible to manufacture the first garment made entirely of polyamide created from textile waste, after 520,000 fiber composition measurements with infrared spectroscopy. Likewise, it participates in The Post Fiber, which transforms used clothing into new textile fibers, together with the Formació i Treball Foundation, Hallotex, Textil Santanderina and Margasa.
Beyond its environmental impact, models like Moda’s demonstrate that the circular economy can also become a tool for inclusion and development, generating employment, promoting diversity and providing economic and social value to communities.