CelluTex - Advocacy platform for cellulose-based textile Part 2

Important results from the project

The interest and understanding of the issues around textiles is strongly increasing, via authorities, NGOs and companies across many indistries. CelluTex issues are becoming more and more visible at European level but also internationally. An important goal has been to make textile visible in FP9, and as it now appears, this will become a reality, which is of great value to Sweden when it comes to opportunities to launch European initiatives in an area where we are at the forefront.

Expected long term effects

valuable connections within both ETP FTC and Forest have been created, this also applies to RegioTex where VGR is now a full member. We also see an effect in groups and initiatives started from the governments side, for example the National Platform for Textiles and Fashion which launched in 2018 in Borås assigned by the Ministry of the Environment. An important effect is also that the area is adressed by the standardization organization SIS, which has a strong voice in an international context.

Approach and implementation

It has been very valuable to work at different levels when it comes to advocacy. The work in ETP FTC has been key, as it in many ways has been a direct path to influence the development at European level. We were also active regionally, together with VGR, to highlight the area´s challenges and potential. National work is important since in many ways Sweden is a pioneer in handling textile materials and developing recycling technologies. It was positive to divide our focus area into two parts in order to better direct our communication.