Supplement to cost price study: costs rise, revenues fall
23 December 2025 – On behalf of Stichting UPV Textiel, KPMG has supplemented the 2024 cost price study with an in-depth analysis and translation into effects for 2025 and 2026. The findings show that market conditions have deteriorated compared to the results of the previous cost price study. In particular, disposal rates for the textile waste market in 2025 are under pressure, while operational costs for the collection, cleaning, and sorting of discarded textiles are expected to rise further in 2026 due to inflation and wage developments. These new insights underline the growing challenges within the textile waste market.
New insights from the additional analysis
This additional analysis by KPMG shows that the weighted average selling prices for reuse and recycling in the textile waste market will fall in 2025 compared to 2024. For reuse, the decrease is slight, whereas for recycling it is significantly lower. At the same time, the volumes of textiles sold for reuse and recycling in 2025 remain stable. A calculation for 2025 and 2026 shows that operational costs for the collection and processing of discarded textiles are expected to rise further. This is mainly due to inflation and increasing personnel-, material-, and transport costs.
Careful and transparent working method
As with the 2024 cost price study, service providers have supplied data on quantities and selling prices of sorted textiles for reuse and recycling. These figures relate to the first three quarters of 2025. In addition, KPMG has calculated the expected costs for 2025 and 2026 for ‘collection via textile containers’ and ‘cleaning and sorting’. The cost components have been indexed based on the relevant price indices: the OVA (government labour development contribution) for personnel costs and the CPI (consumer price index) for material and transport costs.
Building trust together and creating a future-proof textile chain
The additional insights help Stichting UPV Textiel to make realistic agreements with its service providers regarding the collection, cleaning, and sorting of discarded textiles for 2026 and to further shape its policy. Stichting UPV Textiel continues to engage with its stakeholders to work together towards achieving the EPR objectives and building a future-proof circular textile chain.
