Seamless, Australia's Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme is a plan to transform how clothing is made, used, reused, and recycled in Australia to create clothing circularity by 2030.
The Seamless vision
A circular clothing industry is one where responsible stewardship and citizenship are embedded across the lifecycle from clothing design and production, through to how we enjoy our clothes and recirculate them at the end of their useful life.
Seamless guides a transformation towards a resilient circular economy that prioritises social and environmental wellbeing together with economic prosperity.
How Seamless works
Seamless takes a stewardship approach, which recognises that the fashion and clothing brands who place clothes on the market are responsible for the entire life of that garment, from design through to recycling or sustainable disposal.
Seamless will be funded by a 4 cent per garment levy paid by ‘stewards’ who are the clothing brands who become members of the scheme. If 60% of the market by volume sign up to the scheme, a funding pool of $36 million will be raised per year to transform the industry. These funds will be invested in four priority areas:
1. Circular design: incentivising clothing design that is more durable, repairable, sustainable and recyclable
2. Circular business models: fostering new models for reuse, repair, rental, and services that prolong clothing life
3. Closing the materials loop: expanding clothing collection and and sorting practices for effective reuse and recycling
4. Citizen behaviour change: encouraging changed practices around clothing acquisition, use, care, and disposal
The recommendation is to allocate 75% of total funds raised to collecting, sorting and recycling clothing. This includes research and development into new recycling technology to develop a national system at scale, in partnership with the recycling industry.
Activities driven by Seamless, stakeholders and citizens are projected to divert 60% of end-of-life clothing from landfill by 2027, which equates to 120,000 tonnes.
Find out more about the Seamless scheme design
The Seamless Scheme Design Summary Report summarises the recommendations of the Seamless consortium and provides an overview of the Seamless scheme design including its scope, objectives, benefits, revenue, expenditure, and stakeholder roles and responsibilities.
