Photo: Freepik
On December 14, 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring March 30 as the International Day of Zero Waste. The aim is to draw attention to the negative impacts of waste and encourage global action at all levels to reduce pollution. This year, the focus is on waste generated by the fashion and textiles industry.
Households, small businesses, and public service providers generate between 2.1 billion and 2.3 billion tons of municipal solid waste a year, according to data from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Without urgent action, the figure is expected to rise to 3.8 billion tons by 2050. The marking of the International Day of Zero Waste is jointly organized by UNEP and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), calling on states, civil society, businesses, the academic community, and society as a whole to engage in initiatives to reduce waste.
This year’s theme, “towards zero waste in fashion and textiles,” highlights the urgent need to take measures to reduce the negative impact of waste from this sector and promote sustainability and circularity in the fashion industry.
The rapid growth of textiles production and consumption is outstripping the sector’s efforts to become sustainable, causing serious environmental, economic, and social impacts, especially in the global south.
Godišnje se proizvede 92 miliona tona tekstilnog otpada
Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015. As mass production is always followed by the generation of huge amounts of waste, 92 million tons of textile waste is produced globally every year. This is the equivalent of a garbage truck full of clothing being incinerated or sent to a landfill every second.
The textile industry is highly energy-intensive and, as such, is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
It is also one of the biggest consumers and polluters of water – it uses 215 trillion liters of water annually, enough to fill 86 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. Moreover, thousands of chemicals are used in clothing production, and many of them are harmful to human health and ecosystems.
Let’s slow fashion down
We live in a world where everything happens fast. We eat fast, we live fast, and even dress fast. The term fast fashion was coined by a New York Times journalist to describe Zara’s business model that allows the company to design, produce, and deliver a new item of clothing in just two weeks.
Fast fashion focuses on the rapid production and delivery of clothing and fashion accessories to consumers. The business model relies on the mass production of clothing items whose design copies the latest runway trends, using inexpensive materials and cheap labor.
The most popular synthetic material is polyester, which accounts for nearly 60% of apparel production. Since polyester is produced from fossil fuels, its use generates three times as much CO2 emissions as cotton clothing.
To make matters worse, synthetic materials are responsible for 9% of microplastics in the oceans. Every time we wash our clothes, thousands of tiny microfibers are released.
Garment waste is visible from space
Zara and other fast fashion brands, such as Temu, Shein, and H&M, have improved in speed, releasing hundreds of new items each week. In addition to being produced quickly, today’s clothes wear out quickly, meaning they often end up in the trash after just one wear. Countries in the Global South bear the heaviest burden, receiving exports of second-hand clothes. The shores of Ghana are littered with unusable textiles.
The seriousness of the problem is evident in the fact that fashion waste can be seen from space. In the Atacama Desert in Chile, there are mountains of discarded clothes piling up, some unsold, some imported second-hand from the United States, Europe, and Asia. Around 60,000 tons of old clothes are shipped to Chile every year. Although some are resold, at least 39,000 tons end up illegally dumped in the desert.
As individuals, we can reduce waste by buying less and choosing higher-quality clothing that we will wear longer. Other solutions include repairing and altering old clothes, as well as buying used and vintage pieces. It is up to the industry to embrace circularity by producing more durable clothing from more sustainable materials and designing products that are easier to recycle.
Changes within the industry, supported by consumers, can make the fashion sector more sustainable and environmentally responsible.
Be the first one to comment on this article.