Fashionable Waste

Fashionable Trash

Why the Fashion Industry is so Wasteful

In case you missed it, 10 million tons of unused clothing is sent to the landfill in 2015 alone.  In 2023, according to an Earth.org article titled, "10 Concerning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics", that number has risen to 11.3 million tons.  Today, that is 16 million tons!  Why is so much clothing being thrown away instead of being recycled, donated, or upcycled?  We will explore that in this blog post.

How Much is Wasted, How Much is Donated?

https://pirg.org/california/articles/the-fashion-industry-waste-is-drastically-contributing-to-climate-change/

I have witnessed this firsthand when I worked as a transfer driver.  I rolled into the transfer station seeing a mountain of trash inside the facility.  I was notified by the dispatcher that the load was going to be dropped into my trailer was ADIDAS and I needed special paperwork so the customer knows it was destroyed at the landfill.  I wondered why the shoes or clothes wasn't just donated.  

For starters, the fashion industry overproduces and we overconsume.  Retailers buy in bulk, because it is cost effective.  A lot of the unsold clothes is donated if it not sold, but there is a severe oversaturation of clothing from used clothing donations.  Many unsold and unused clothing is sent overseas to poorer countries, but like the video above showed, even many of those clothes remain unused.  Now, countries are flooded with new and old clothing and it has nowhere to go. 

https://www.greenamerica.org/unraveling-fashion-industry/what-really-happens-unwanted-clothes#:~:text=With%20almost%20two%2Dthirds%20of,/winter)%20from%20decades%20past.

A lot of this waste is due to ever changing fashion trends.  The trends changed so quickly, that many of the garments remained unsold.  Another issue is cheap materials.  The clothes then do not last long and when the clothes are worn out, they are thrown away.   

https://www.josephrosenfeld.com/frequent-second-hand-shops/
 

   What Are the Impacts?

The fashion industry consumes massive amount of water, creates chemical and microplastic pollution, and creates greenhouse gasses from extraction of raw materials, to manufacturing, and to transportation of the final product. 

Carbon Emissions

https://geographical.co.uk/climate-change/geo-explainer-how-carbon-emissions-affect-climate

Carbon emissions from the fashion industry contributes 8-10% of all carbon emissions according to reports.  That is more than emissions from international flights and maritime shipping combined.

https://www.ecowatch.com/8-shocking-facts-about-water-consumption-1881989567.html

The fashion industry is the second-most consumer of water after agriculture.  The industry consumes 215 trillion liters of water each year.  To put that into perspective, that is more than what Mexico consumes each year.

Waste

https://nationwidewasteservices.co.uk/5-types-of-waste-and-how-it-is-disposed-of/

 

85% of all textiles end up in landfills each year.  Like mention above, it is mainly because of overproduction and overconsumption. 

 

Microplastics

https://blog.cleanhub.com/what-are-microplastics

Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the oceans each year.  This is equal to about 50 billion plastic bottles.

Toxic Chemicals

https://www.ishn.com/articles/112917-reduce-your-chemical-footprint-best-toxics-release-inventory-reporting-practices-for-2021

This is mainly because of the production of synthetic fibers.  These chemicals can get into our waterways and into our bodies.  They poison fish and wildlife and cause irreparable harm to our environment.

I am not blasting any one company.  If I did that, this blog post would be like a book.  However, the blame does not lie with companies alone, it also lies with me and everyone else.  We overconsume here in the United States.  In another blog post, I can suggest what we should do with our trash and that pertains to our garments.  I hope this gave you some insight into the fashion industry and what it does to our world.