Petition to the Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco)
Expanding Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to South Korea's Textile Industry While Strengthening Transparency in Domestic Clothing Redistribution
To: Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco)

Subject: Proposal to Extend the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Framework to Textiles and Support Transparent Domestic Clothing Redistribution

Dear President and Officials of the Korea Environment Corporation,

I.Introduction
South Korea has demonstrated strong leadership in resource circulation through the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, contributing to one of the world's highest municipal recycling rates while promoting eco-design within the packaging industry. However, despite this success, textiles remain largely excluded from the existing framework. According to the Korea Environment Corporation's National Waste Generation and Treatment Survey, South Korea generates approximately 182,284 tonnes of discarded clothing annually, while less than one percent is recycled back into new fibers, with the majority ultimately being landfilled, incinerated, or exported overseas (Ko, 2026). This suggests a discrepancy between South Korea's existing policy framework and the extent to which circular economy principles are currently implemented within the textile industry.

II. The Global Consequences of South Korea's Textile Waste
Notably, the consequences of this policy gap extend far beyond South Korea itself. Rather than remaining within a domestic circular economy, South Korea has become the world's fourth-largest exporter of used clothing, exporting approximately 295,000 tonnes annually, with 54.4% of exported weight ultimately flowing to low-income and lower-middle-income countries (UN Comtrade, 2023). Consequently, clothing donated by Korean households frequently enters global second-hand markets instead of remaining within domestic reuse systems. The Kantamanto Clothing Market in Accra, Ghana illustrates this challenge. While the market supports thousands of traders and provides affordable clothing, increasing quantities of imported garments arrive damaged or unsellable, eventually accumulating in informal dumping sites, waterways, and textile landfills. Ultimately, the environmental burden of textile waste is not eliminated through export; it is merely transferred from developed nations to communities with significantly weaker waste-management infrastructure.

III. Why the Current System Falls Short

Accordingly, our research suggests that extending the EPR framework to textiles represents one of the most practical opportunities to strengthen South Korea's circular economy. Unlike packaging materials, textile producers currently bear little responsibility once garments enter the market, reducing incentives to improve durability, recyclability, and post-consumer collection. Professor Bongkyun Ko similarly identifies the absence of textile EPR as a likely explanation for South Korea's comparatively weak textile circulation despite its high municipal recycling performance (Ko).  However, policy implementation alone is insufficient. Circular economy also depends upon transparency. Under the current donation system, most donors never know where their clothing ultimately goes, making it difficult to distinguish genuine reuse from the international transfer of low-value textile waste.

IV. Mountain Climbers: A Community-Based Solution
It is precisely this transparency gap that Mountain Climbers was established to address. As a youth-led sustainability initiative, Mountain Climbers has redistributed more than 1,500 clothing items through a digital platform that directly connects donors with recipients while documenting each stage of redistribution. Rather than merely collecting clothing, the organization emphasizes accountability by allowing recipients to request specific garments and enabling donors to understand how their contributions are utilized. 

V. Policy Recommendations

1. Extend the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework to include textiles, requiring producers to finance collection, sorting, reuse, and textile recycling infrastructure.
2. Introduce eco-design standards encouraging durability, repairability, and fiber-to-fiber recyclability.
3. Increase transparency within South Korea's second-hand clothing market through digital tracking and reporting mechanisms that allow donors to understand where donated clothing ultimately goes.
4. Co-operating with community organizations such as Mountain Climbers that already provide transparent clothing redistribution systems connecting donors directly with recipients.

Vi. Conclusion
Ultimately, initiatives such as Mountain Climbers demonstrate that community-driven transparency can complement national policy by preventing reusable clothing from unnecessarily entering overseas second-hand waste streams. We therefore respectfully urge the Korea Environment Corporation to extend the EPR framework to the textile industry while supporting transparent redistribution initiatives through partnerships with community organizations, digital donation tracking systems, and greater investment in domestic textile reuse and recycling infrastructure. Together, these measures would strengthen South Korea's circular economy while ensuring that environmental responsibility does not end when clothing leaves a donation bin, but continues until every garment reaches the end of its useful life.