Environmental and Waste Management in the Garment Industry in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

This paper reflects the situation in the Republic of Moldova regarding environmental management in the garment industry with focus on textile waste recycling and identification of possibilities for raising the industry sustainability and encouraging the transition to circularity principles. Moldova’s Apparel is the largest and best-performing industry of the Moldovan economy. It is one of the largest exporters and an important employment generator. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Moldovan garment industry like never before, but even in these conditions the industry managed to remain in the top of the three Moldovan exporters. The bad part of the garment industry is that it is a big waste-generating industry at both stages: pre-consumption and postconsumption stage. Textile waste which are formed at preconsumption stage are not sorted, therefore they are not recycled. However, in Moldova there are some initiatives for recycling waste obtained in the garment industry. Practice shows there are certain initiatives for the collection and recycling of waste that appear at the post-consumption stage. In order to multiply the existing practices of collecting and recycling of the waste appeared in the garment industry, an information and training of both the enterprises and the population regarding the benefits of the circular economy is required.