SPOTLIGHT ON BENELUX
in their operations, making investments in sustainable use of raw materials and water and techniques that reduce harmful emissions. This is also due to serious financial and tax compensations, which are provided for industry’s players for such activities by regional government. For example, in case of the Netherlands, according to local Textiel Service industry’s paper, for 2025, the Netherland’s government has approved €189 million as part of the Environmental Investment Deduction (MIA) and €20 million for the Arbitrary Depreciation of Environmental Investments program, which involves payment of compensations for domestic laundry and drycleaning operators, adopting green principles.
Also the ever increasing use of so- called smart textiles, which have special functional properties will also contribute to the further growth of demand for professional drycleaning and laundry services across the entire Benelux region. Still, according to a recent report from the Technological Knowledge Centre for Textile Care (TKT), the Netherland’s research agency for textiles, water costs and energy taxes will rise sharply in 2025, and that may a serious pressure on the industry.
The rate of increase will depend on the size of the company and the volume of its resources consumption and will reach up to 33% in case of gas and +20% in case of water. Also the influx of workers from the industry to other EU states may also create problems for the industry. As inflation rate remains high (especially in the Netherlands, which was one of the highest among the other EU nations in December, 2024) many industry workers are not happy with the rate growth of their wages, which may force some to consider migration to other EU states. Accirding to Marc Callewaert of the Belgian textile care assocaition, FBT: “We are see ing a decrease in numbers of laundries and drycleanings due to the fact that we, in Belgium, mostly have small businesses, often family-run businesses where there is no no succession and new acquirers are also hard to find in these difficult times. On the other hand the number of workers in the sector remains on the same level. - due to the automatic indexation of wages, they have increased by 3.5% since the beginning of this year . As a result, the FBT cost index has also increased.
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“We - just like the rest of our European colleagues - will step up our efforts to improve the image of our industry with an emphasis on sustainability, energy efficiency and circularity.
“Especially in Flanders, authorities are focusing on PFAS pollution. The sector is doing its utmost to minimise the outflow of PFAS while, on the other hand, it wants to demonstrate that it is not the polluter (but the manufacturers are).
“We do not have a view on how the federal government will respond to Europe’s obligation to implement the EPR. Similar to packaging or batteries, take-back systems must be set up for textiles in the future. FBT is convinced that the industry should play a proactive role here and, for example, push for the establishment of its own collection and recycling system for leasable textiles. When reporting on sustainability, the Federation will work to ensure that existing circular business models such as textile care can be represented in the planned cross-industry standards for reporting.
“We see the same evolutions among our international colleagues under the European Textile Services Association (ETSA) umbrella and will therefore continue to work with them to adopt a common European position for the sector.
ETSA’s role
ETSA has outlined its main priorities and concerns on EU policy level. The associartion tells LCNi: “ETSA has been actively engaging with EU policymakers to advocate for the interests of the textile services industry, focusing on sustainability, circularity, and competitiveness. This will be the first full year with the new Parliament and Commission, while also bringing significant global changes and challenges. In this context, ETSA has identified several areas for increased advocacy during the first semester of 2025.
“ETSA has routinely emphasised the inherent circularity of the textile services industry and how it is built on principles such as resource conservation and waste minimisation. One of the key legislative frameworks under development by European institutions is the Waste Framework Directive (WFD). ETSA has engaged with policymakers on this issue, advocating for harmonised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes and improved recycling infrastructure.”
Cinet Awards and World Congress
Netherlands-based CINET cooperated with 35 co-host associations around the world, about 20 country coordinators and close to 100 volunteers to get the Cinet World Congress and Global Best Practices Awards 2024 staged during Texcare 2024. According to the organisers, 500
participants and visitors registered for the event, and around 10,000 online followers witnessed the Congress programme over two days. Participants were inspired to meet and interact with fellow professionals which was extremely effective. In-depth discussions resulted in a wide variety of new understandings and business cards were exchanged with both dinners well attended by almost 300 people. Round Table Talks followed six key topics, including dynamic marketing directions; overviews of the latest technologies with a short- and longer-term perspective; clear conclusions on sustainable/circular solutions; services models designed for B-2-B and B-2-C client demands, and; human resource management issues. The 20 country coordinators produced Country Reports to provide insights in the market characteristics/ trends in Professional Textile Care (PTC) business developments. More than 40 representatives were introduced and welcomed by Cinet CEO, Peter Wennekes and IDC secretary general, Chris Tebbs. Speakers from all parts of the world shared their insights. Winners of the different categories were: ITS
Au Chee Cheong of I-WASH Laundry, Singapore, Sustainability Award 2024
RTC-Sme
Mohd Hafizul bin Razali of LONDRI, Indonesia, Innovation Award 2024, Dino Kantzavelos of TSC Wetclean, Canada, Sustainability Award 2024
RTC-Big
Beijing Fornet Laundry, China, Overall Award 2024 Jad Halaoui of Washmen Laundry LCC, UAE, Innovation Award 2024, Maurits Tiethoff and Ruben van Pelt of DOBBI, The Netherlands, Sustainability Award 2024
The much-anticipated Growth Hacker Award worth €20,000 went to George Tsaknakis, Tsaknakis Carpet Cleaning.
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