Contributions of social entrepreneurship to textile waste prevention in Romania

The current system for producing, distributing, and using clothing is putting pressure on resources, pollutes and degrades ecosystems. Nowadays, when disposed of, clothing still has at least 70% of its useful life left. A different approach to the way clothes are made, distributed and disposed of is needed. Prevention of textile waste is one angle to address these challenges and is being taken into consideration by the European public bodies. Reuse is increasingly recognized as a waste prevention measure, specifically addressed in 25 of the 33 waste prevention programs of European countries but national approaches to encourage reuse are, so far weak. Though in Romania it is estimated that textile waste will be produced mainly by households by 2025, knowledge about clothing reuse stakeholders and the mechanisms of exchange is scarce. Some activity is however developed by charities, acting as social enterprises. The primary goal of this research was to understand the role of social entrepreneurship in textile waste prevention by identifying clothing reuse practices and stakeholders in Bucharest, the Romanian city with the largest number of households in Romania (10% of the total of households). By gaining concrete knowledge related to the clothing reuse initiatives, in terms of number and characteristics, moving from identifying current clothing reuse practices and mechanisms of exchange to the type of stakeholders involved, either public or private, the research contributed to modeling the circular business ecosystem in Romania. The main research question concerned the degree of involvement of social enterprises in the development of clothing reuse activities, and therefore textile waste prevention. The findings revealed a high disproportion between the number of private and public clothing reuse initiatives, most of the activities being developed by charities which to some extent act as social enterprises. The results were intended to provide information to support decision-making bodies and communities in building up a functional clothing waste prevention plan through benefiting of existing knowledge from stakeholders in the field. These results also open the pathway to public-private dialogue for highlighting and scaling up existing textile waste prevention activities.