Clothing and textile consumption in Norway is sky-high. Literally.
The weight of our annual textile waste is equivalent to four and a half Eiffel tower, according to an NRKarticle on a recent NORSUS’ report about textile waste in Norway.
"I believe we are on the podium when it comes clothing consumption, so to speak," she says.
Now, action is being taken through a new extended producer responsibility scheme, and NORSUS is helping to provide the evidence base that will ensure those measures make a real difference.
Most recently with the new survey of textile waste in Norway. It shows that a total of 87,531 tonnes of new textiles – clothing, footwear and household textiles – were placed on the market in Norway last year. That is equivalent to roughly 15,5 kilos per inhabitant.
- Read the whole report: 2026 Knowledge Status for Textiles and Textile Waste in Norway
Considerable potential for reuse or recycling
With so much clothing and textile in circulation, it is hardly surprising that a lot of it ends up in the bin. In 2025 we threw away clothing equivalent to almost half of the amount of what was placed on the market: 44,461 tonnes.
The good news is that a great deal of this volume could be repaired, reused or recycled.
Waste composition analyses reveals a large potential for getting more out of the textiles: 40 per cent could have gone to reuse or repair, while 33 per cent could have been material recycled.
At the same time, however, Irmeline de Sadeleer, Research Manager at NORSUS, is clear that the most important step towards reducing the amount of textile waste takes place in households.
"We have to start reducing our consumption. And the most important thing in achieving that is to wear the clothes you buy until they are worn out. We need to remember to regard clothes as something valuable, as something with labour and raw materials behind it, and to use the clothes we buy until they are worn out," she explains.
The producer responsibility scheme: better data in the future
With the new extended producer responsibility scheme coming into force on 1 January 2027, action is also being taken at a system level to increase the amount of clothing that is reused or recycled. The scheme will ensure that the businesses producing and selling textiles have to foot the bill when those textiles become waste.
Similar schemes already exist for other products, including packaging and electronics. NORSUS provides the evidence base for these schemes as well.
In addition to giving industry incentives to reduce waste and increase reuse and recycling, the extended scheme will affect the entire value chain – from design to end-of-life management. It will also provide better data and more precise reporting in the future.
"Once producer responsibility is in place, reporting requirements will come with it. That should make future surveys both simpler and more precise," de Sadeleer explains.
Sharp increase in online shopping
NORSUS has previously delivered several surveys of textile waste in Norway. The last report was delivered in 2023.
New in this years' report, that was presented just before the summer, is that the survey also contains online shopping. The figures reveal that we are very fond of shopping online: more than 13,000 tonnes of textiles were bought from foreign online retailers last year. Online shopping rose by 236 per cent on the previous year, although de Sadeleer notes that the figures are still uncertain.
"Even though the figures are still uncertain, they show that online shopping is a significant part of the market and an area it is important to follow more closely going forward," de Sadeleer explains.
