Waste – is it ‘really’ in fashion? : Fashion Revolution (2024)

FAQs

Waste – is it ‘really’ in fashion? : Fashion Revolution? ›

The number of garments produced annually has doubled since 2000 and exceeded 100 billion for the first time in 2014 and an estimated 92 million tons of textile waste is created annually from the fashion industry. Shockingly, every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned globally.

The short answer is: extremely. The long, and more detailed answer is: it's estimated that 92 million tons of textile waste is created annually by the fashion industry.

A lot of the clothing waste comes from manufacturers — 13 million tons of textiles each year — and from clothing retailers themselves. Manufacturers overproduce the supply of clothing, and retailers end up overstocked — as seasons change, the unsold supply ends up thrown away to landfills.

Global Fashion Industry Waste

Up to 100 billion garments are produced by the fashion industry every year. And each year, as much as 92 million tons of clothing ends up in landfills. Only 20% of textiles are collected for reuse or recycling globally. Almost 60% of all clothing material is actually plastic.

Each wash and dry cycle, especially the latter, sheds microfilaments that move through our sewage systems and end up in waterways. It is estimated that half a million tons of these contaminants reach the ocean each year. That's the equivalent to the plastic pollution of more than 50 billion bottles.

And when consumers throw away clothing in the garbage, not only does it waste money and resources, but it can take 200+ years for the materials to decompose in a landfill. During the decomposition process, textiles generate greenhouse methane gas and leach toxic chemicals and dyes into the groundwater and our soil.

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries on the planet. According to the World Bank, 20 percent of water pollution globally is caused by textile processing, making it the second biggest polluter of freshwater resources on the planet.

Fashion and its supply chain is the third largest polluting industry, after food and construction. It emitted 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, more than the shipping and the aviation industry combined.

It might come as a surprise to some that the clothing and textiles industries are among the most polluting on the planet. However, the sector contributes as much as 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the world, as well as being responsible for various other types of air pollution.

People with higher incomes generate on average 76% more clothing waste than people with lower incomes. Once textiles are discarded, 66% of them are sent to landfills in the U.S. where they decompose — some quickly and others over hundreds of years.

How can we overcome fashion waste? ›

The construction industry is the industry that generates the most waste. Metal, paper, plastics, rubber, wood, glass, and more all get used in construction. All of the “odds and ends” left after a construction project end up getting tossed out and into the trash.

Clothes are endlessly variable and unpredictable. So they're not ideal for recycling technologies, which require a steady and consistent source material. Even a seemingly simple garment may contain multiple materials, with fiber blends such as cotton/polyester and cotton/elastane being common.

As about 69% of clothes are made of synthetic fabrics, most of the wasted garments take hundreds of years to decompose in landfill. Natural fabrics, on the other hand, release methane in landfill—contributing to climate change.

The Dark Side of Fast Fashion

It dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

Globally, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry after the oil and gas sector. Responsible for 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually, every UK household, as a result of their clothing consumption, produces the equivalent emissions of driving a modern car for 6,000 miles.

Non-biodegradable clothes are manufactured synthetic textiles including polyester, spandex, nylon, and rayon[*]. It may take between 20 to 200 years to fully biodegrade these textiles. Biodegradable Textiles: Cotton: Cotton is one of the most biodegradable fabrics you can have, especially if it is 100% cotton.

Also around this time, the molecular structures that hold your cells together break away, so your tissues collapse into a watery mush. And in a little over a year, your cotton clothes disintegrate, as acidic body fluids and toxins break them down. Only the nylon seams and waistband survive.

Cotton is one of the easiest fabrics to decompose, especially if it's 100% cotton. In the right compost, the material should be gone in a week to five months.

From the pickers harvesting the cotton to the yarn spinners and the workers manufacturing the garments – slavery and exploitation exists at all stages in the making of our clothes. Across the garment and textile industry, exploitation includes: forced labour.

What fashion is most polluting? ›

Garments made from polyester and other synthetic fibers are a prime source of microplastic pollution, which is especially harmful to marine life.

The environmental impact of SHEIN is one of the primary issues. SHEIN manufactures a tonne of apparel as a fast-fashion company, much of it is produced from synthetic materials that do not biodegrade. Also, the business's manufacturing and shipping methods could pollute the air and water.

Top polluting sector: fossil fuels

It is no surprise that the fossil fuels sector is the most polluting in the world. Despite this knowledge, emissions from fossil fuels keep increasing. After a brief decline during the Covid 19 pandemic, they grew by 1% in 2022, reaching 40.5 gigatons of CO2.

Environmental impact

Let's start with some encouraging news: Gucci's environmental rating is “Good”.

One is cheap materials with the industry using a lot of such materials — along with toxic dyes — to create its clothes, “making it one of the largest polluters of clean water”.

Environmental Cost of Toxic Fashion

Potentially harmful chemicals are commonly used in the dyeing and bleaching of new clothes. During that process, harmful chemicals also find their way into rivers, contaminating drinking water and polluting oceans.

Fast fashion pollution

Fast fashion relies on cheap, disposable clothing that is produced quickly and sold at low prices, encouraging consumers to buy and discard clothing at an alarming rate. As a result, landfills are overflowing with discarded clothing, and textile waste is piling up.

Many shops sell it to discount stores like TK Maxx, or online discounters like the Outnet. Others launch periodic online sales of what needs to go, or have their own outlet stores that sell last season's merchandise at a discount. What happens to unsold clothes in other circ*mstances is they're donated to foundations.

Definition of Textile waste

It is one kind of worthless or useless or defective material. So textile wastage can be defined as the material that becomes unusable or worthless after the end of the production process of any textile product.

Zippers and buttons are removed and the fabrics are cut into smaller pieces. The shredded fabrics are granulated and shaped into pellets. These are then melted and used to create fibres which can be used to make new polyester fabrics!

How can we fix the fashion industry? ›

~80% of all secondhand clothing is downcycled, exported or landfilled. The average consumer now buys 60% more pieces of clothing than 15 years ago and keeps each item for half as long. $500b of value is lost every year due to lack of recycling and clothes thrown into landfills before ever being sold.

The iron and steel industry produces large quantities of wastewater contaminated with varying types of toxins such as heavy metals, suspended solids, oil, and grease.

As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world with 4.5 pounds (2.0 kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, fifty five percent of which is contributed as residential garbage.

The new analysis found that the US produces more plastic waste than any other nation, generating about 42 million metric tons every year, which amounts to 130kg (287 pounds) per person. In total, the country produces almost twice as much as China, and more than all the countries in the EU combined.

Cotton must be blended with other fibers to be made into new yarn for strength and durability, and therefore cannot continuously be recycled.

Today, in fact, fashion accounts for up to 10% of global carbon dioxide output—more than international flights and shipping combined, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. It also accounts for a fifth of the 300 million tons of plastic produced globally each year.

Is fashion one of the biggest polluters? ›

Fashion and its supply chain is the third largest polluting industry, after food and construction. It emitted 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, releasing 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, more than the shipping and the aviation industry combined.

The problem with cruelty in fashion

Wild animals are trapped, shot or confined in barren cages until their slaughter. All this suffering, just to transform them into a coat, bag or shoe. In the fur industry, species like foxes and mink are bred into a life of confinement before they are killed.