End-of-life clothing. It's those
shirts or leggings that are damaged or stained. They
can't be donated. No one wants them. There's no clear
ethical or sustainable option. So what do we do
with these items? It's a recurring question,
and so far, there haven't been any good
choices.
The problem has been getting
worse over time. The fast-fashion industry pumps out
approximately 100 billion clothing items every
year — a number that keeps climbing. It gets even
worse when we consider what these clothes are made
of. Fast-fashion garments rely predominantly on
fossil fuels to create their clothing,
prioritizing man-made synthetic fabrics like
polyester and nylon. At this point, experts estimate
that 70% of clothing is made with synthetics.
There's no clear way to
recycle or reuse polyester and nylon clothing.
It can't be composted. It's difficult to turn into rags
for cleaning because it's non-absorbent. And when these
items are in less-than-perfect conditions, thrift stores
and charity shops don't want them.
As a result,
most of these worn-out clothes are either incinerated
— which is as bad for air pollution as coal-burning — or
sent off to giant landfills in the Global
South.
That's people are joining the
#TakeItBack movement in the UK, forcing corporations to
come face-to-face with the mess they've made. Customers
are mailing their used synthetic garments back to the
shops that sold the items and asking: "What's your plan
to deal with all this waste you
created?"
Luckily, the EU is set to act on
this crisis. It's preparing to implement something
called "Extended Producer Responsibility" (EPR)
within the next few years, requiring producers to take
accountability for their waste. This will put the burden
back where it belongs — with the producers who created
these items to begin with.
The UK must follow the EU's
lead and mandate EPR as well! Sign the petition
now!
