Why It Matters
The Textile Circular Economy: Policy Options for the U.S. report, published Oct. 16 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), examines policy options for developing a textile circular economy.
The report, which draws on interviews with 49 stakeholders and site visits in four jurisdictions, identifies policy options ranging from extended producer responsibility programs to tax credits, and says limited funding and domestic infrastructure could pose challenges for nationwide textile collection and recycling.
The Big Picture
The textile industry spans fiber sourcing, yarn production, and manufacturing, and encompasses apparel, carpets, footwear, and towels, making it a component of a massive global economic sector. Global increases in textile consumption and waste have prompted certain U.S. states and other countries to begin considering and implementing policies aimed at developing a circular economy for textiles, one in which reuse, repair, and recycling extend the useful life of products.
Some U.S. states and the European Union (EU) have proposed or enacted extended producer responsibility legislation that would make companies responsible for what happens to their products after use. GAO conducted site visits to Washington state, Oregon, France, and the Netherlands to meet with private sector organizations involved in various aspects of developing a textile circular economy. Those visits gave the agency a direct look at how jurisdictions have structured their programs.
The October 2026 report continues GAO's previous work from December 2024 on federal efforts to address textile waste. GAO says it "was asked to review" the topic, but the report does not identify who requested the study or cite a specific statute or committee directive as its basis.
Potential benefits of a domestic textile circular economy, as described in federal agency documents and stakeholder interviews, include new jobs and markets tied to repair and recycling, reduced environmental harm, and shifts in consumer practices. Challenges the report identifies include limited funding and limited domestic infrastructure for nationwide textile collection and recycling.
Those two constraints are closely linked: without reliable funding streams, the collection networks and processing facilities that would make large-scale textile recycling viable are unlikely to materialize, regardless of which policy instrument Congress or the states might choose.
Several stakeholders, including industry groups, told GAO they prefer a federal approach, citing potential benefits for coordination, compliance, and consistency across states and countries.
GAO notes that such an approach would require additional federal coordination and resources and would depend on the government's legal authority to act. That caveat carries practical weight: absent a clear statutory hook, any federal initiative would likely require new legislation rather than administrative action alone.
The Bottom Line
The report's displayed highlights do not list formal recommendations, and the GAO page does not name specific federal agencies in the material shown.
What the report does establish is a policy menu, including extended producer responsibility programs, tax credits for businesses that reuse textiles or reduce textile waste, and the removal of sales taxes on secondhand apparel, that federal and state policymakers can draw on if the U.S. moves toward a textile circular economy.
Each option carries different implications for which level of government acts, which industries bear new compliance costs, and how quickly collection infrastructure could scale. A federal approach would require additional federal coordination and resources, and it would depend on the government's legal authority to implement it, GAO found.
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