The transition towards a circular textile economy remains a major challenge across the Mediterranean. While new regulatory requirements and growing environmental awareness are accelerating change, many territories still need practical tools, stronger coordination and technical support to turn circular economy ambitions into action.
Building on the results achieved during its first phase, VERDEinMED – PreVEnting and ReDucing the tEXtiles waste mountain in the MED area is now moving from testing to transfer, taking its proven solutions to new territories and supporting their integration into local and regional ecosystems.
Co-funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Programme and part of its Innovative Sustainable Economy Mission, VERDEinMED has developed and tested an integrated approach to help public authorities, businesses, waste management actors and support organisations advance towards a more sustainable and circular textile sector.
From testing solutions to transferring them
During its initial phase, VERDEinMED developed and tested a comprehensive Support Service for circular textiles, complemented by a Knowledge Platform and regional VERDE Hubs bringing together relevant stakeholders.
The Support Service has already demonstrated its potential through pilot activities involving different actors across the textile value chain. The project is now taking the next step: adapting these solutions to new territorial contexts and supporting organisations in incorporating them into their own policies, services and operational practices.
The new transfer phase will follow a giver–receiver approach. Partners with experience in developing and testing VERDEinMED solutions will transfer their knowledge and methodologies to organisations and territories that will adapt and implement them according to their specific challenges and needs.
What will VERDEinMED do during the transfer phase?
The project will focus on four interconnected areas:
- Transfer and adapt the VERDEinMED Support Service
Partner organisations will work together to adapt the Support Service to different territorial, institutional and market contexts, enabling its practical application beyond the original pilot areas.
- Develop a Transfer Toolkit
VERDEinMED will provide practical guidance for transferring its solutions, defining pathways for their policy, operational and market adaptation and facilitating their replication in other Mediterranean territories.
- Strengthen capacities and local ecosystems
Capacity-building and training activities will equip public authorities, clusters, innovation actors and other relevant organisations with the knowledge and skills needed to implement circular textile solutions. The VERDE Hubs will support this process by connecting stakeholders and facilitating cooperation and co-creation at territorial level.
- Support long-term uptake
The transfer process will lead to adapted Support Service guidelines, uptake agreements and policy recommendations designed to help embed the transferred solutions into institutional and operational practices beyond the lifetime of the project.
Knowledge connecting territories
The VERDEinMED Knowledge Platform will play a central role throughout this process. As the project’s digital environment for knowledge exchange, it will provide access to resources and tools while supporting collaboration and knowledge transfer between participating territories.
By combining this digital dimension with the territorial work of the VERDE Hubs, VERDEinMED creates a framework in which experience can be shared, adapted and transformed into locally relevant solutions.
Who will benefit?
The transfer phase is designed to generate value across the textile circularity ecosystem:
- Public authorities will gain tools and knowledge to support evidence-based policymaking and the implementation of circular textile strategies, including emerging Extended Producer Responsibility frameworks.
- SMEs and industry actors will benefit from stronger support ecosystems and greater access to circular business models and value-chain collaboration.
- Waste management operators and Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) will benefit from improved coordination and approaches supporting more effective circular systems.
- Clusters, innovation actors and support organisations will strengthen their capacity to act as intermediaries and facilitators of the circular transition.
From pilot experience to long-term impact
The new phase of VERDEinMED represents a shift from experimentation to institutionalisation.
Rather than starting from scratch, the project builds on solutions already developed and tested and focuses on making them usable in different contexts. Through transnational cooperation, territories with different levels of maturity will be able to exchange experience, learn from one another and adapt common solutions to their own realities.
In this way, VERDEinMED aims to transform successful project results into lasting tools, services and cooperation mechanisms that can continue supporting the circular transition of the Mediterranean textile sector in the long term.
