The United Kingdom rules out imposing a penny per item to stop ‘fast fashion’

There will not be, finally, a tax of one penny per clothing item. The Government of the United Kingdom has shelved the plan of the sustainability committee of the House of Representatives, which included a series of measures to combat the environmental impact of the fashion industry.

The proposals included loading each garment with a penny to finance a better collection and management of the textile waste. The measure aimed to raise 35 million pounds a year.
 
Now the Government has responded by ensuring that the proposals can be considered from 2025. For the time being, the Executive has explained that it will only encourage the industry to participate in the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, which is voluntary. "We believe that positive approaches are needed for an exit for textile waste instead of simply imposing a ban," explains the Government.
 

The Government will only encourage voluntary measures, such as the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 

Members of Parliament produced a report in February, called Fixing Fashion, which noted that British consumers buy almost twice as many clothes as Germans or Italians and highlighted that the fashion industry contributes more emissions to climate change than aviation and logistics, is intensive in the use of water and produces chemical pollution.
 
The study concluded that fast fashion is "exploitative" and unsustainable, and proposed measures such as loading each garment with a penny and implementing fiscal reforms to compensate companies that design products with a lower environmental impact and that favor reuse, repair of garments and their recycling.
 
On the other hand, it was also recommended that the training program of fashion design schools incorporate a specific agenda on how to design, make and repair garments.