In the week of October 6, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate will conduct inspections across the country in the field of textiles and bicycle batteries. Dozens of inspectors will visit many clothing and textile companies, bicycle shops, and refurbishers of bicycle batteries. The goal is to gather information on whether entrepreneurs are aware of the rules for collecting and recycling products and to inform them of their responsibilities. This way, the ILT can strengthen its supervision in the field of circular economy.
The ILT deliberately chooses to inspect textiles and bicycle batteries. Circular economy is a priority for the ILT and these are important pillars in the National Program Circular Economy.
Producers and importers are increasingly responsible for their products: from sustainable product design to the collection and recycling of used products. This is laid down in the extended producer responsibility (UPV). The ILT supervises this. For the textile sector and the sector working with bicycle batteries, the UPV is relatively new.
Clothing and household textiles
Among parties that market clothing and household textiles, there is still much unfamiliarity with the UPV Textiles. There are still companies that are not registered with the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management or are not part of a producer organization and do not know what is expected of them. During the inspection week, the ILT wants to determine the extent to which companies are familiar with the regulations and encourage them to take action if necessary.
Bicycle batteries
In the battery sector, research is being conducted into the chain of discarded bicycle batteries. Where do these batteries go and what happens to them after collection? In 2024, 25% of bicycle batteries were recycled, while the collection target in 2028 is set at 51%. There is still a long way to go. For safe and sustainable processing, it is important that batteries are processed correctly.
Information position
With the inspection week, the ILT aims to inform the visited companies of their responsibility for collection and recycling. After this week, the ILT will also have a better understanding of which companies the waste streams of bicycle batteries and textiles are being diverted to. This will allow the ILT to make its supervision more effective and risk-oriented. The ILT issues warnings where necessary and monitors whether companies take further steps. All this is to prevent the leakage of waste and raw materials from the circular economy and to retain valuable materials for reuse or recycling. This way, the ILT contributes to a clean and sustainable living environment and protects people and the environment.
