This August, with the support of the LIFE Integrated Project “Waste To Resources Latvia - boosting regional sustainability and circularity” (IPE/LV/000014), “Eco Baltia vide” conducted a study* that reveals residents’ textile sorting habits. Latvian residents are increasingly choosing not to throw textiles into the trash but to place them in designated containers – over three years, sorting activity has increased by 60.61%, and now every second person sorts their worn clothing and footwear (from 33% in 2022 to 53% in 2025). However, alongside this positive trend, the study also highlights the fact that 18% of residents still dispose of textiles in household waste. “Eco Baltia vide” and “Latvijas Zaļais punkts” outline the most significant trends in residents’ habits related to the use and management of textile products.
“The habit trends revealed in the study are encouraging and clearly show that we are moving in the right direction. However, we still have a long way to go to reach the target set by the European Union – to landfill no more than 10% of waste by 2035. Nearly every fifth resident still disposes of unwanted textiles by throwing them into household waste. Therefore, it is essential to continue both the development of infrastructure and educational efforts on responsible textile management. To ensure this, it is also necessary to set more ambitious textile collection targets through producer responsibility systems – only in this way will we be able to expand the collection infrastructure and achieve the goals set by Europe,” says Jānis Aizbalts, Chairman of the Board of "Eco Baltia vide".
More textiles in the container, less in household waste
If in 2022 a third of residents (33%) placed their excess clothing in textile sorting containers, this year the figure has already reached 53%. A little more than a third of respondents (37%) choose to give their unwanted textiles to charity organizations. At the same time, the disposal of textiles in household waste has decreased over the past three years from 25% to 18%. Although the trend is positive, it is still a significant volume of textiles that each year is not directed to proper management but instead ends up in landfills.
“We started collecting textile waste in Latvia back in 2019, even before it became an official requirement, and today we can say – the system works. Observations show that two factors are important for residents – the availability of containers and information on what can or cannot be placed in them. It is also important that all companies engaged in textile waste collection, both donation collectors and waste managers, operate under the same rules and that the system is transparent. Only then can we be sure that Latvia will not become a dumping ground for textile waste from other countries,” says Kaspars Zakulis, Director of “Latvijas Zaļais punkts”.
We have become more pragmatic
The study confirms that over the past three years, residents’ clothing and footwear purchasing habits have become more pragmatic. The share of respondents who buy clothing less often and more thoughtfully has increased. If in 2022 this was 42% of respondents, then this year already 50% of residents show a more pragmatic approach to shopping. Meanwhile, the share of emotional and spontaneous purchases has decreased by 7 percentage points, with 21% of residents now making emotional and impulsive purchases. It is also interesting that respondents still acknowledge that quality plays an important role in clothing selection, yet flexibility in evaluating it is increasing. Namely, for certain categories of clothing, quality becomes secondary, and respondents prefer a more financially advantageous purchase.
The popularity of second-hand clothing is declining
The habits of purchasing second-hand clothing have slightly decreased in recent years – if in 2022, 52% of residents did so, this year it is 47%. However, women and young people still remain the most active representatives of this market segment, confirming that sustainable fashion is part of the lifestyle of the younger generation.
To highlight the importance of textile sorting, “Eco Baltia vide” in cooperation with “Latvijas Zaļais punkts” is implementing the campaign “Life After the Closet,” created with the support of the LIFE integrated project “Waste as Resources in Latvia.” The campaign’s aim is to show that textiles are not just waste, but a resource that can be given a second life – both through sorting and reuse, as well as through creative solutions. Together, “Eco Baltia vide” and “Latvijas Zaļais punkts” have placed more than 340 textile sorting containers across Latvia. Residents are invited to use the nearest textile collection point, which can be found on the website www.tekstils.lv.
*The survey “Assessment of Residents’ Textile Sorting Habits” was conducted by the research center “Norstat” in August 2025, commissioned by “Eco Baltia vide,” surveying 1007 Latvian residents aged 18–74. The study was carried out with the support of the LIFE integrated project “Waste as Resources in Latvia.”
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