The Environmental Disaster that is Fuelled by Used Clothes and Fast Fashion

[Donkees]

Premiered Aug 12, 2021

The dark side of the world’s fashion addiction. Many of our old clothes, donated
to charities, end up in rotting textile mountains in West Africa. This is a story
about how our waste is creating an environmental disaster.

Correspondent Linton Besser travels to Ghana to uncover the dirty secret behind the world’s
fashion addiction.

While 60 per cent of imported fashion items are reused and resold, 40 per cent are rubbish,
creating an environmental catastrophe for this poor nation.

The dumped textiles also get swept up in the monsoonal rains and end up choking the city’s
waterways and beaches, posing a danger to fishermen and aquatic life. Liz Ricketts, who runs
an NGO campaigning for awareness of Ghana's textile waste crisis, lays the blame at the feet
of international fashion houses.

“Waste is a part of the business model of fashion. A lot of brands overproduce by up to 40 per
cent”, says Ricketts.

Noi begs the people who donate their clothes to think twice about where they end up.

[msongs]

1. pbs had show about this decades ago. appears nothing has changed since then nt

[pansypoo53219]

12. i hit a euro thing on PBS world about a guy in netherlands? who invented a backpack/coat/sleeving

bag to give to homeless people using old tents/seat belts + padded w/ recycled coats. also made by refugees. seat belts donated by car company. he is also a fashion designer, but wanted to help when a friend's relative froze to death.

[Piasladic]

2. absolutly true

not even lumos can handle that amount of crap.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. The problem isn't donating old clothes. The problem is buying new clothes

The problem is an addiction to new and different and temporarily fashionable everything that makes everything that was purchased yesterday suddenly "disposable."

[UpInArms]

4. I buy most of my clothes

At the local thrift store (used) and wear them until they become rags and then use them as such until they become threads and then they get tossed …

I bought a new dress in 2017 for my son’s college graduation

[Mariana]

7. Cotton can go in the compost pile... nt.

[UpInArms]

9. Have been recycling and composting

For more than 30 years

[pansypoo53219]

13. cotton needs to be RAGS. still companies who collect cotton for the rag business and NEW shit is

poly/lycra/spandex + makes shitty rags.

[leighbythesea2]

5. I work in this industry

And it's true. Fast fashion in the forms of Zara, H&M, Forever 21 and Top Shop changed things when they came onto the scene. Every brand sped up to emulate. Over assorted and too much product. My personal research does uncover its not working well as of more recently. Pandemic and post pandemic "strategies" suggest less inventory, less deliveries. I just wrote a paper for my masters degree so I had to do some research.
Three quarters of fashion brands lost money in 2020. Some posted 90% losses. Lots of bankruptcies. It was coming anyway, covid sped it up. Also the supply chain has gotten very fragile.
So while, there's no complete collective "aha" moment, now we're "moral", there is some shift happening. Companies are trying to find more sustainable methods. I've heard this for years, but now it seems to be getting more serious and happening. I think millennials & Z are not into such cheap excess. & waste. Im hoping lockdown illuminated we need 1/25th of stuff.
So I'm jaded, but actually am, somewhat, experiencing a shift within the work environment. It's nice to hear a company talk about actioning real steps, with some happening already.
Still, that H&M recycle program? Currently not making a dent. We have a loonnng way to go.
If you can buy 100% cotton, it's the best you can do personally. (Besides not buying new @ all).
Those poor countries taking our stuff. There needs to be true recycling systems/facilities. The technology exists. Price is coming down.

[Victor_c3]

6. I still wear clothes that I had 10 years ago

Jeans and t-shirts don’t ever go out of style

[Mr.Bill]

10. Same here. I also spent 90% of my working years

being able to wear that to work.

Tip for Tshirts - go to Michaels, the craft store. They sell plain Gildan Tshirts in various colors for $4 or even $2 on sale. I guess craft people use them to paint or silkscreen on so that's why a craft store sells Tshirts. I also bought a plain blank baseball cap there for $2.99.

[Victor_c3]

14. Useful, for sure

Same here with the work thing. Aside from the 5.5 years I was active duty in the army, I worked a construction job, I was a warehouse manager, and I worked as a chemist for the federal government. As a chemist, I’d always get drips of acid down the front of my pants and on my shoes and I always wore a lab coat over whatever I had.

Even professional clothes don’t really go out of style (collared shirt and slacks). You should be able to get years of wear out of those too.

Oh well, I’m starting to preach here…

[hunter]

8. Once I'm done with my clothes I'd be embarrassed to give them to any charity.

My around-the-house and working-in-the-garden fashions often approach "crazy homeless guy."

Most of my old clothes end up in the local landfill.

I've often mused about buying an industrial shredder so I could make paper or building materials out of old clothes.

[Donkees]

15. Fabric-Cement Mix Planters

[Backseat Driver]

16. Then there's this story...

https://www.brut.media/us/economy/this-architect-transforms-used-textiles-into-bricks-c810ddaf-19ac-4d85-9d44-5a8286756915

[pansypoo53219]

11. i buy resale + lands end + wear stuff til they die. i even wear some of the clothes my

crap-rat grandma hoarded. i found old sweatshirts + undershirts. ooh, the sleeveless ones. i keep fixing his sad old long underwear pants. old pajama tops. the flannel for patches. i did buy 2 sad new camp shirts off ebay. oy vey the quality sucked, but they were ok after i cut the sleeves off + collar w/ was my plan.

we donate nice stuff. hopefully used by somebody.

i also love vintage towels.

OH! one of my favorite resale tops is a striped post war poly 'sweatshirt' + i was watching yours mine + ours, the sat movie on PBS 2. + the oldest had on a sweatshirt like mine! aha! + its still like new. all my polo shirts are resale.

now, i still wear stuff i got in the 80's. and i just ebayed a 50's wool cardigan. but my oldest probably is the WW2 dress uniform jacket.