Fashion Landfills - What is it?

One small swag for a man, one giant landfill for mankind! Like most mass industries, the fashion industry hasn’t failed to disappoint when it comes to making matters worse. Not just saying here - the pollution caused by it accounts for 2-10% of global carbon emissions, being second only to the automotive industry. And that’s during the production phase, manufacture, and transportation only. This subject has a lot to chew on and, as you know, I could talk your ear out about it so we will eventually come back to it another time. As for now, we’re going directly to the end of the line. The last stop of clothing falls victim to never-ending trends and abandoned tastes. 

Since “away” does not exist, because it always ends up somewhere, where do these millions of pieces of clothing go when we dispose of them? 

Generally speaking, worldwide landfills are home to more than two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste. This huge amount of garbage is partly because 99% of what we buy is trashed within 6 months, give or take. Now, when we think about how the fashion industry has evolved, it’s easier than putting two and two together.

I’m sure many of us take delight in trying out new popular styles. It helps us express ourselves and communicate who we are to the world, and that’s just fine. When it comes to its business, the problem is that to get profit, as usual, its system escalated dramatically to the point where it now has an exclusive category of its own - Fashion Landfills!

In the U.S. alone, 85% of textiles end up burned or buried, including unused and unsold items! Per year, globally, it is estimated that out of the 100 billion garments produced, 92 million tonnes end up in landfills. At this rate, as the scenario unfolds in a predictable manner, global emissions will increase by 50% by 2030. It’s fair to say that we’re buying more clothes than ever compared to the last few decades, so we might as well pay attention to this alarming fact. It turns out recycling most of these trendy materials has become way harder, contributing BIG TIME to this environmental crisis.

Reducing our Fashion Environmental Impact 

• Buy smart and less: Let’s be real and have a look, not at ourselves, but at our closets. How many clothes do we have, sitting in the corner, that we could consider inactive? If we purchase less and keep an eye out for good quality items, they will last longer and the planet will thank us!

• Sustainable Brands: Here’s a list of companies that care about the environmental impact of the business!

• Don’t give up on it just yet: As in, don’t throw your garments “away” just yet, they might have a nice fix to them! Here’s an example of a previous post on how to repair your jeans, for example. If you don’t like them anymore, just consider donating them!

We hope to have given you a nice, quick insight into the dark side of the Fashion World. At the end of the day, everyone can relate a bit to these statistics but that doesn’t mean that, after becoming aware of them, we can’t start making the change we want to see and desperately need! One less swag at the time.

We’ll see you next week!