Prato, Italy is Europe's largest textile distribution hub, renowned for its wool recycling and regeneration industry. Yet beneath the surface narrative of the circular economy, illegal textile waste disposal has become a serious environmental problem. According to Prato's chief prosecutor Luca Tescaroli, 819 tons of illegally disposed textile waste were confirmed in the province in 2024, and 252 tons in the first four months of 2025 alone. Beside the Filomortula stream, police once discovered at least 10 ovens used for burning textile waste, an area jokingly dubbed "Prato's land of fires."

The illegal textile waste trade has crossed national borders. In 2024, a Romanian court handed businessman Georgeta Trifa a three-year suspended sentence, accusing her of illegally disposing of old clothes imported from Italy as waste. The case stemmed from two illegal warehouses discovered by Romania's environmental guard, containing over 400 tons of textile waste, some of it chromium(VI)-containing leather. Romanian investigative journalist Andrei Ciurcanu, through the Rise Project platform, confirmed that this textile waste imported from Italy very likely came from Prato's recycling enterprises.

Prato's illegal textile waste flows are closely tied to the transformation of the entire industrial chain. Since the late twentieth century, Chinese fast-fashion enterprises have gradually taken over the original wool regeneration infrastructure, turning textile waste into a massive source of negative externalities. Because storage and disposal costs in Romania are far lower than in Western Europe, it has become a major destination for illegal textile waste. According to a Rise Project investigation, about 40% of used goods imported into Romania in 2023 were confirmed to be non-recyclable textile waste, and over 3,000 tons of cargo were refused entry at the border.

The EU passed waste-reduction legislation in September 2025, but still prioritizes recycling over reduction and reuse. Italian Environment Minister Diana Buzoianu stated in March 2026: "Waste must not enter the country under the name of second-hand products." As of reporting, Bucharest is drafting a registration system for enterprises importing used goods to fill the legal gap.

This case reveals that Africa and Eastern Europe have become "dumping grounds" for textile waste from Europe and America, while local environments and taxpayers bear the damage. The industry should reflect on the "recycling myth"—without strict regulation and accountability mechanisms, so-called "circularity" degenerates into a process of generating new pollution.

Source: Prato–Romania: The Illegal Textile-Waste Trade – FUL · Originally published 2026-08-18