(Thematic Report) It's not for nothing that fashon rhymes with pollution!by Nour Jennane | 05-07-2020 20:45 |
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 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:
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