Fast fashion's cheap, trend-chasing nature has overburdened our capacity to deal with the textile waste it creates. And the once-coveted threads are ending up in heaps all over the place, including beaches in Ghana, according to reporting from the Guardian.
What's happening?
Chasing fast fashion can cost shoppers an extra couple hundred bucks a year (or more) for clothes that many consider to be disposable. Earth.org reported that 85% of all textiles end up in a landfill.
Donating clothing to thrift stores is a good way to give the duds a second life, and the gifts often help charitable causes like Goodwill. But Green America and the Guardian reported on the complicated path donated clothes often take to reuse.
In Australia, the subject area of the Guardian's piece, around 16% to 50% of items are resold immediately if they are acceptable, those working in the field told the newspaper. The garments have a better chance of a new life if they are dropped off directly at stores instead of heaped at outdoor donation bins, where mildew ruins large volumes. The percentage drops if the donations go to large sorting centers.
"When people leave stuff outside, the weather gets to things and that really impacts the keep rate," Vinnies New South Wales retail director Virginia Boyd said in the story.
After the initial sorting, clothing could end up being shipped to other countries for more sifting, where wearables/unwearables are separated as part of an involved process with a goal of reusing as much fabric as possible. But clothing dumps are evidence that vast amounts of waste are very real, the Guardian added.
In America, of the 16 million tons of textile trash made each year, more than 3 million tons are burned and 10 million tons go to a landfill. About 2.5 million tons are recycled, per Green America.
Why is clothing waste important?
The Guardian reported that there is enough clothing already stitched to outfit several future generations. The newspaper site published a photo of a polluted area at Jamestown Beach in Accra, Ghana, as an example of how the glut is creating a problem.
In addition to the physical spectacle of trashed beaches, the fabric waste is leaving behind smaller menaces in the form of microfibers. U.S. health experts listed endocrine, liver, kidney, and other health risks as being associated with the particles. Loads of the pollution also end up in our oceans, where it is hurting sea life, the report continued.
What's being done about the trash?
Nonprofit Canopy "is working to establish the … logistics to build global and regional supply chains that can turn discarded textiles into new fibers," according to the Guardian.
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More tax incentives 🏦 "What we need now is speed and scale," Canopy founder Nicole Rycroft said in the report.
Nature might provide the answer, as well. Experts are studying an ocean fungus that is chewing on plastic afloat on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Individually, we can shop at thrift stores, which often reveal hidden gems at steep discounts. You can also learn a new skill by mending your old clothes, prolonging the life of those comfy jeans and potentially saving you more than $100 annually.
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