Clothing
We’re all using more resources than is advisable for the health of our planet, and our wardrobes are no exception. As much as 95 percent of clothes thrown away could have been reworn or recycled. A friend wears only clothes she has bought in op-shops. She’s proud of the bargains she purchases, and that she’s giving clothes extra life.
A major (UK) survey 6 years ago found one in three young women considered garments ‘old’ if they had been worn just twice. And then they are thrown out and new clothes purchased. Since 2000, global production of clothing has doubled.We’re buying 60% more clothes now than we did 15 years ago – but only keeping them half as long.
An estimated 85 per cent of all textiles go to the dump every year, according to the World Economic Forum, enough to fill Sydney Harbour annually. Globally, that’s the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles being burned or going into landfill every second. As global clothing consumption skyrockets, fed by ruthless “fast fashion” brands, it’s creating an environmental catastrophe.
On a per capita basis, Australia is the highest consumer of textiles anywhere in the world outside of the US. When these clothes fall out of favour with their owners, the vast majority of them end up in landfill. Only 7% of clothes sold in Australia are classified as recycled.
Australians donate 310,000 tonnes of clothing to charities every year. Many of these clothes are sold to raise $527 million for the funding of social welfare programs. But one-third of these clothes can’t be sold in local op shops. Instead, they are shipped overseas. Charities sell them to Australian exporters for around 50 cents a kilogram. They’re then exported to Malaysia, Pakistan and the UAE for sorting into bales based on their market segment, for example “men’s shirts” or “women’s jackets”. Those bales are then sold to importers in Eastern Europe, the Pacific and Africa. Once these garments arrive in those markets, many end up dumped in landfill, creating an environmental catastrophe on the other side of the world in places like Ghana.
Read more about this issue here (ABC report) or watch Foreign Correspondent’s ‘Dead White Man’s Clothes’ on iview or YouTube.