What would the Textile Waste Reduction Act do?

Create a National Textile Circularity Strategy, led by the EPA. Run a needs assessment covering policy priorities, investment, infrastructure, markets and existing reuse, repair and recycling efforts. Form an interagency working group spanning EPA, Energy, State, the FTC, NIST, the National Science Foundation and others. Establish an advisory board that includes textile recyclers, producers, retailers, reuse and repair groups, academics and state, local and Tribal governments. Identify federal funding available to states, local and Tribal governments and nongovernmental organizations for textile circularity work. Publish annual data on textile waste generation and management.

Why should thrift operators and recyclers pay attention to the Textile Waste Reduction Act?

Reuse and recycling get a formal voice. The proposed advisory board includes textile recyclers and reuse and repair organizations. Nonprofits could be in line for funding. Directing the EPA to surface funding for NGOs is relevant to Goodwill affiliates, St. Vincent de Paul councils and other charitable resale operations. National data becomes a priority. Annual EPA reporting on textile waste means someone has to measure it. The best numbers will come from operations that already track what they sort.

What should operators do now?

You can't control the legislative calendar. You can control your data. Track your volumes and grades by week, starting now. Know your destinations — retail, online, export, recycling, trash. Document your impact in pounds diverted and items reused. That's the language of grants and policy. Capture it at the sort line, where every item already gets a decision.

SortIQ Blog

The Federal Textile Waste Reduction Act: What's Proposed and What Operators Should Do Now

By Christina Dills, Collective Circularity

For years, textile policy in the US has been a state story, with California leading on SB 707. In September 2026, it became a federal conversation too.

The Textile Waste Reduction Act is early-stage and far from law. But it signals where national policy is heading — and it names the people who sort and recycle textiles as part of the solution.

The bill at a glance

Item	Detail
Name	Textile Waste Reduction Act (H.R. 10454)
Introduced	September 16, 2026, 119th Congress
Sponsor	Rep. Chellie Pingree (Maine); cosponsor Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (California)
Status	Introduced; referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Lead agency	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The bill builds on recommendations from a December 2024 Government Accountability Office report on fast fashion and textile waste, which urged Congress to designate a federal lead on textile circularity (Sourcing Journal / WWD).

What it would do

According to the bill text and coverage, the Textile Waste Reduction Act would (Waste Dive, Recycling Today):

Create a National Textile Circularity Strategy, led by the EPA.
Run a needs assessment covering policy priorities, investment, infrastructure, markets and existing reuse, repair and recycling efforts.
Form an interagency working group spanning EPA, Energy, State, the FTC, NIST, the National Science Foundation and others.
Establish an advisory board that includes textile recyclers, producers, retailers, reuse and repair groups, academics and state, local and Tribal governments.
Identify federal funding available to states, local and Tribal governments and nongovernmental organizations for textile circularity work.
Publish annual data on textile waste generation and management.

What it would not do

This is not a federal version of SB 707. As introduced, it doesn't create an extended producer responsibility program, set fees on brands or mandate collection targets. It's a strategy, coordination and data bill.

That matters. Strategy bills often shape what comes next — they define the problem, the data and the players.

Why thrift operators and recyclers should pay attention

Three parts of this bill speak directly to the people who already handle used textiles:

Reuse and recycling get a formal voice. The proposed advisory board includes textile recyclers and reuse and repair organizations.
Nonprofits could be in line for funding. Directing the EPA to surface funding for NGOs is relevant to Goodwill affiliates, St. Vincent de Paul councils and other charitable resale operations.
National data becomes a priority. Annual EPA reporting on textile waste means someone has to measure it. The best numbers will come from operations that already track what they sort.

It's not the first federal idea, either

Earlier proposals point in a similar direction. The Americas Trade and Investment Act, introduced in 2024 in the previous Congress, included about $14 billion in textile reuse and recycling incentives — among them a proposed 15% net income tax exclusion for businesses that collect, resell, sort or recycle textiles (Waste Dive). That bill didn't become law, but the idea of rewarding sorting and reuse has been on the table.

What happens next

Most bills introduced in Congress never become law, and this one is at the very first step. Watch for:

Committee action in House Energy and Commerce
A Senate companion bill
Industry coalitions and trade groups taking public positions

Even if it stalls, the same ideas tend to return. And California's SB 707 is moving regardless, with its next major milestone due March 1, 2027.

What to do now

You can't control the legislative calendar. You can control your data.

Track your volumes and grades by week, starting now.
Know your destinations — retail, online, export, recycling, trash.
Document your impact in pounds diverted and items reused. That's the language of grants and policy.
Capture it at the sort line, where every item already gets a decision.

SortIQ logs category, grade and destination hands-free through Meta Ray-Ban glasses, building the operational record that state and federal programs are moving toward — while pricing retail items consistently at the same time.

Be the operator with the numbers when the policy arrives. Book a SortIQ walkthrough.

Bill status as of October 26, 2026. General information only, not legal or policy advice.