Kristin Gillman
Blog Post 4
SFoF
The importance
of understanding the horrible effects of textile waste in critical. Billions of
articles of clothing are being produced each year. Through the production
process of clothing, a significant amount of natural resources is being used.
Post production textile waste is disappointing and unpleasing to look at
considering the true cost it had on the environment to produce the product. All
the use of natural resources is being wasted and gives the clothing a short
life span. Each year clothing is being dumped in landfills. The clothing has
been produced using toxic chemicals, the result of being dumped into landfills
adds onto the issue of polluting the soil. The reason for excessive textile
waste is the demand for fast fashion. Fast fashion has had a huge impact on the
textile waste in the fashion industry. In the movie True Cost, Christina Dean
stated, “The amount of textile waste in the U.S. landfills has grown at more
than three times the rate of overall waste volumes for all materials”. Alone
textile waste is increasing more rapidly than any other materials being wasted.
This is because of the way fast fashion appeals to consumers. Consumers are
buying more cheap quality clothing that does not have a long-life span. This
causes consumers to waste textile and buy more.
In Hong Kong, at the Star Ferry Pier, a 16-foot-high tower of
garments are displayed as an exhibit to raise awareness about textile waste.
This required 7.3 tons of textiles.
This issue
needs to be resolved and regulated. Having so much textile waste filling our
landfills is not good for the environment. Textile waste is polluting the soil
and wasting natural resources for the textiles to just be thrown out or burned.
Ways to reserve this trend is very important and the knowledge about textile
waste should be spread. Something that consumers can do to contribute to this
issue, is buying less and more higher quality clothing. The more better the
quality of the clothing the less consumers would have to toss their clothing.
The clothing will last so much longer then fast fashion clothing. Another
innovative way to help reverse the trend of textile waste is a new scientific
way to reuse textiles. Polyester is a very common material used for clothing.
It is hard to recycle because the textile loses quality. There is a new type of
microbe that can eat old textiles and break the textile down into a basic raw
material. This allows the quality of the textile to be preserved the quality is
not lost. This closes the loop in the crisis and allows for textiles to be
recycled over and over again.
References
Smart Ethics:
The Tech Innovations Cleaning Up Fashion. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2017,
from https://www.notjustalabel.com/editorial/smart-ethics-the-tech-innovations-cleaning-up-fashion
Dean, C.
(n.d.). A Conversation with Christina Dean. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from
https://truecostmovie.com/christina-dean-interview
W. (2016,
August 08). Would You Buy Patched Up Clothes to Tackle Textile Waste? Retrieved
October 10, 2017, from https://wasteadvantagemag.com/would-you-buy-patched-up-clothes-to-tackle-textile-waste/
16-Foot Clothing Mountain
Illustrates Hong Kong’s Daily Textile Waste. (2011, June 29). Retrieved October
10, 2017, from
https://inhabitat.com/16-foot-clothing-mountain-illustrates-hong-kong%E2%80%99s-daily-textile-waste/
Kristin- Good work, you include loads of facts! Where are all the landfills all this clothing ends up in? It might be interesting to let the class know a few of the places that have these giant landfills. You are so right… the toxic chemicals used to produce the textiles .. later pollutes the soil when old (and sometimes not old) clothing just is dumped. There MUST be a better way! Another problem, too, is all the post-production waste (ie: leftover fabric/trims, irregulars) if this is where the used clothing ends up.... what do you think happens to fabric, trims, etc that are produced and come out the wrong shade or irregular. SO much waste!
ReplyDeleteGood post! You also have three great visuals that disappeared from this blog??!! Loving the Microbe that eats old textiles and break them down… That’s an innovation! Nice job Kristin!