There is a waste problem in fashion, and more and more second -hand textiles are blocked by the global landfills and old goods stores worldwide. Donation of clothes seems to be a perfect solution-the clothes they wear are far away from garbage landfills and can be used by people who need them-but this rarely plays a role in the real world, because there are too many second-hand clothes in the cycle. Most of the clothes used to export to counties in the south of the world with waste, which was resale, or eventually eventually appeared in a garbage landfill.
Waste piles: According to the latest available data (from 2018), the average of about 81 pounds of clothing and shoes of American consumers a year on average, causing nearly 13 million tons of textile waste across the country. In this waste, only 13 % were recycled, while the remaining 87 % or 11 million tons were sent to the landfill or incineration.
As a graduate student and the production manager of a small fashion brand in Colombia, I often feel contradictions. In the evening, I took a class to understand the way of fashion that hurt the earth and make clothes. During the day, I went to work and actively participated in these harmful fashion supply chains.
In my work, I coordinate the development and manufacturing of hundreds of thousands of swimsuit each year. Like a brand supported by many investors, we have a goal: growth. We need to increase sales for a year, causing more and more waste.
When consumers are completed with them, these clothing is made of micro -plastic souted fiber mixture? I have no idea. At present, we have neither the means nor the motivation to recover the second -hand swimsuit for recycling, which allows most customers to throw these items into the trash, thereby increasing the textiles discarded in the United States each year.
I recruited learning solutions in Colombia to minimize environmental damage caused by the fashion industry. My research made me realize that it is difficult to make the brand take action by yourself. Even if they do this, they do not have coordinated exercise, and their efforts rarely have an impact. The solution needs to be supported by policy to ensure a wide range of and meaningful changes.
Landmark expansion producer liability (EPR) said in California that fashion brands should be responsible for their production of clothing, and I agree.
In September last year, Governor Gavin Newsom (Gavin Newsom) approved the 2024 Institute of Textile Recovery Law (SB 707), which made California the first United States to perform mandatory EPR programs for textiles. The bill requires clothing manufacturers (defined as a brand) and retailers and manufacturers who sell clothing in California to join the producer responsibility organization (PRO) to create and fund the life of textiles. According to the bill, professionals will plan, transport, reuse, repair, repair, compost and recycling textiles, and transfer waste from garbage landfills.
The bill is a positive step forward, and it is also necessary for solving the crisis of textiles.
As a lonely brand, my employer cannot establish the infrastructure required to retrieve and recycle the swimsuit we sold. Second-hand swimsuit is particularly difficult to re-process-separate hybrid fibers for recycling techniques. Therefore, swimsuits and most mixed fiber clothing are usually dropped and chopped to use as insulation or mattress casuals. Otherwise, they are simply discarded as garbage.
Although the bill is preferentially considering the reuse of clothing, investment in technology and infrastructure also needs to improve the recycling of clothes. As part of the professionals, my company and other brands may provide funds for gifts to support emerging technologies to effectively recover the synthetic clothing we produce.
An example of this innovation is the Australian Enviro-Tech startup Samsara Eco. They cooperated with the sportswear giant Lululemon to develop an enzyme technology to separate mixed synthetic fibrous mixtures, such as enzymes usually used in swimwear and sportswear. If we want to keep all clothes away from garbage landfills, we will need more technologies.
According to the EPR Act, fashion companies are designed with lower annual professional expenses to be recyclable, reused and maintenance, and use ecological design strategies, such as design disassembly and using composting materials or single fibers to promote recycling.
The company will have enough time to adjust. The bill has been passed, but now the work has begun to establish a professional and formulate plans to meet legislative requirements. The actual plan will begin operation after July 2028.
Some brands may worry about the financial burden they bring to them. However, the fine may be small. They should expect to be consistent with other existing EPR programs in France and the Netherlands, and the payment of each clothing is not more than a few cents.
The fashion industry in us requires this formal policy to provide a clear framework and guide and motivation to formulate changes. We will not do it ourselves.
Although donating your second -hand clothes may feel correct, this is not the answer to our textile waste crisis. Copy the responsibilities of the producers in the fashion industry to recapture their products and keep them away from the landfill. We need a real plan-favorable textile collection site, superior classification and recycling infrastructure, technological innovation, to increase the recycling and accountability system of people who create waste.
It’s time to make fashion brands pay.
The views and views expressed here are the author’s views, which does not necessarily reflect the official status of Columbia Climate School, Earth Institute or Colombia University.
