811% increase in textile waste since 1960.
Waste isn’t normally a word that’s asscoiated with the term trading, at least not in the vernacular. But if you take a closer look you might find the phenomena no only when it comes to clothing. For this project (Pushback Prodcutions) we focused on clothing and thereofre started researching where the worn clothes that people sort out end up. As the diagram from the Pulse Report (Detailled Pulse Report 2017) shos the vast majority ofclothes in the waste disposal stream, roughly 70% will go to landfill and 30% will be incinerate.
Textile Mountain
The hidden burden of our fashion waste
Water use
It takes a lot of water to produce textile, plus land to grow cotton and other fibres. It is estimated that the global textile and clothing industry used 79 billion cubic metres of water in 2015, while the needs of the EU's whole economy amounted to 266 billion cubic metres in 2017. To make a single cotton t-shirt, 2,700 litres of fresh water are required according to estimates, enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years.
Tackling textile waste in the EU
The new strategy aims to address fast fashion and provide guidelines to achieve high levels of separate collection of textile waste.
Under the waste directive approved by the Parliament in 2018, EU countries will be obliged to collect textiles separately by 2025. The new Commission strategy also includes measures to support circular material and production processes, tackle the presence of hazardous chemicals and help consumers to choose sustainable textiles.
The EU has an EU Ecolabel that producers respecting ecological criteria can apply to items, ensuring a limited use of harmful substances and reduced water and air pollution.
The EU has also introduced some measures to mitigate the impact of textile waste on the environment. Horizon 2020 funds RESYNTEX, a project using chemical recycling, which could provide a circular economy business model for the textile industry.
A more sustainable model of textile production also has the potential to boost the economy. "Europe finds itself in an unprecedented health and economic crisis, revealing the fragility of our global supply chains," said lead MEP Huitema. "Stimulating new innovative business models will in turn create new economic growth and the job opportunities Europe will need to recover.