Environmental Networking Platform for Children and Youth by SAMSUNG E&A
Stay connected with Eco-generation :
| Share 
| 
- Home >
- Our Actions >
- Ambassador report
8
Comments
(Thematic Report) It's not for nothing that fashon rhymes with pollution! |
|---|
|
by Nour Jennane | 05-07-2020 20:45
|
|
The textile industry has become an environmental disaster. How and under what conditions are our clothes produced? What is the real impact of this industry on our planet? What solutions can be found to change things? The fashion industry produces 20% of the world's wastewater and 10% of the world's carbon emissions, more than all the emissions from international flights and shipping. The main problem is over-consumption: it's a fact, we over-consumer, not to say we waste! Just look in our cupboards and in our habits: more than 50% of our wardrobe would simply not be worn. We buy out of envy, to keep up with fashion, without even taking stock of what we already have, we make ourselves feel guilty by throwing away or giving away our old surplus to make room for new purchases. In the end, 80 billion garments are produced and delivered every year and several million tons of clothing and other textiles are thrown into our landfills. To calculate the real environmental impact of textiles, we take into account : - The production or extraction of raw materials, synthetic or natural, sometimes very polluting. For example, the quantity of water used, pesticides, transport... - Then comes the transformation and manufacturing phase. We can cite the impact of bleaching and the use of dyes and other products harmful to health and the environment... - Transport, most often from the other side of the world, is particularly polluting. We can talk about containers on ships, planes, trucks... - Do not forget the distribution, with the addition of packaging, sales and sometimes again the transport... - We then take into account the maintenance of the articles (washing, drying and ironing), with again the use of toxic products for the environment... - At the end of our garment's life, the ideal choice would be to donate if possible or to recycle, unfortunately only 13% of the textiles are recycled, the others simply go into the garbage...
Let's take the example of a t-shirt, a basic cotton t-shirt as it is sold almost 2 billion every year in the world: it is estimated that our t-shirt travels almost 40,000 km, that it required the use of more than 3,500 L of water and that its carbon footprint is 10 kg!
In 2012, Greenpeace published a damning report on this subject and led a major awareness campaign to denounce and fight against the use of toxic products by the clothing industry. A challenge that some brands (80 brands and companies according to Greenpeace) have taken up by committing themselves to using less polluting products and no longer using certain chemical substances at all. In the top 3, we can mention H&M, Zara and Benetton... Unfortunately, far, far too many have not changed anything, especially certain luxury brands such as Armani, Diesel, Versace, Hermès or Dior! There are several solutions, some of them very simple, to change your habits : - Stop wasting: we can already start by limiting our consumption, quite simply, by avoiding going to the sales without any particular needs, by knowing better the contents of our wardrobes and our real needs, by unsubscribing from the daily newsletters that make our mouths water... - Bartering, exchanging, sharing: "second-hand" fashion is definitely a positive idea. Second-hand, barter, sharing, donation, second-hand clothes, deposit sales, solidarity stores, online second-hand sales... You can even rent clothes and accessories for special occasions... In short, wherever you are, there's no shortage of solutions! - Repair: after the second hand, the second life. Here we're talking about mending, transformation, diy... - Recycling: when you have no other solution or when it's easier and more practical to get rid of your textiles, you have to replace the trash option with recycling. In France, all clothes and shoes can be brought to a collection point. Where? There is necessarily local information (commune, community of communes...), otherwise you will find all the information online on the site La fibre du tri ; - The last option is to consume locally. The products are not always perfect in terms of raw materials and production process, but the transport is almost nil and the act is citizen in favour of the local associative and productive fabric. SOURCES:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous : [Free Report] Everything about...
8 Comments
Hello Nour
Greetings and Namaste from Nepal
Wishing you a safe stay
Thank you for your report on It's not for nothing that fashon rhymes with pollution!
Keep writing great reports.
We are eager to read more reports from you.
Green Cheers :)
Best wishes,
Kushal Naharki
Posted 14-07-2020 09:56
Hi Nour Jennane, this is a mentor, Sang Su Lee.
It's so shocking to see the detailed statistics of how much waste fashion industry produces. As you've mentioned, to reduce such waste, consumers need to go extra miles to reduce over consumption. Some consumers are really sensitive to trends, but this habit is negative to the environment.
Thank you for your hard work!
Green Cheers~
Posted 13-07-2020 01:20
Thank you for your report. This is a very important issue to think about, consumerism has molded our ideas of purchasing fashion goods in a way that we only think about buying unnecessary clothes, Fast fashion industry has a lot to do with that too, with the constant sales, new product releases etc makes it an attractive thought to buy fashion products every and now then. We should really start focusing on minimal consumption/recycling our clothes for a more sustainable solution.
~Troyee~
Posted 08-07-2020 18:34
Greetings
I do hope you are all good..
It really sounds different when we say our clothes are not eco friendly , but its the truth.
I really appreciate your ideas and of course do hope for the use of eco friendly clothes in the world market very soon.
Green cheers
Regards
Jasmine karki
Posted 08-07-2020 16:02
Hello Nour Jennane, this is mentor Taehyun!
I think the keywords for modern consumer life are going to be summarized really quickly, impulsively. In fact, seeing the fast fashion SPA brands that are in vogue these days supplying clothes at such a low price, reasonable consumers are suspicious, and behind such a low price, this dark truth is hidden. We need to think a little bit about our consumption trend, as we've been caught not only with resources but also with a few cases of unfair hiring by SPA brands to get cheap labor.
Thank you for the report!
Green cheers!
Posted 07-07-2020 02:27
Fashion indeed rhymes with pollution, it is amazing to know that if even clothes we put on could actually lead to pollution of our environments, we are just not safe.
Thanks for sharing this amazing report with us
Posted 06-07-2020 13:23
Hello Nour,
I totally agree with your idea "second-hand" fashion and repair, recycling and stop wasting is very necessary. I got a chance to read very interesting topic that should be applied in our daily life.
Green Cheers~
Posted 06-07-2020 00:34
Hey Nour,
Its me Sandhya from Nepal!!
I really liked the way how you presented the negative impact of clothes that we are wearing,
I was totally unaware of this fact but it has not been a month that I took one Webinar related to sustainable solution since then I had dream to have eco friendly clothes but its quite difficult to get,
And the solution you had presented here is totally acceptable,
Thanks for such an persuasive article,
Keep writing,
Yours,
Sandhya
Posted 05-07-2020 20:58