very much Harmful influence Fast fashion in the environment is no news. In addition to being responsible for nearly 10 percent of global carbon emissions, the industry is notorious for the amount of resources it wastes and the waste it produces. Here are the 10 most disturbing statistics about the waste of fast fashion.
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10 statistics about the waste of fast fashion
1.92 million tons of textile waste is produced every year.
Of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tons end up in landfills. To put things in perspective, This means the equivalent of a garbage truck full of clothes ending up in landfills. Every second. If the trend continues, it is expected that the number of fast fashion wastes will increase It reaches 134 million tons per year At the end of ten years.
2. Global emissions from the clothing industry will increase by 50 percent by 2030.
If a business-as-usual situation prevails in the coming years – no action will be taken to reduce the loss of fast fashion – the industry’s global emissions It can double. At the end of ten years.
3. The average American consumer throws away 81.5lbs of clothing each year
The equivalent of approximately 11.3 million tons of textile waste in the US alone. 85% textile – It ends up in landfills every year. That equates to approx. 81.5 pounds (37 kg) per person per year and area 2,150 pieces per second Nationwide.
4. The amount of time spent wearing clothes has decreased by 36 percent in 15 years.
The culture of dumping is getting worse. Nowadays, many items are only worn seven to ten times before being thrown away. That is failure. More than 35% Only in 15 years.
5. The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of the world’s wastewater.
Dyeing and finishing – the processes by which dyes and other chemicals are applied to fabrics – are responsible for 3% of global CO2 emissions and more than 20% of global water pollution. Along with yarn preparation and fiber production, these have two processes Major impacts on resource depletionDue to energy-intensive processes based on fossil fuel energy.
6. It takes 20,000 liters of water to produce one kilo of cotton.
Besides being a major source of water pollution, fast fashion also contributes to the waste of large amounts of water every day. If this is difficult to imagine, just think of this 2,700 liters of water They need to make one T-shirt, which will be enough for one person to drink for 900 days. Moreover, a single load uses 50 to 60 liters of water.
7. $500 billion is wasted every year on undergarments and the failure to recycle clothing.
The worst aspect of our throwaway culture is that most of the clothes thrown away each year are not recycled. Globally, 12% of the material used for clothing is recycled. Most of the problem It depends on the materials that our clothes are made of and insufficient technologies to recycle them. “The fabrics we wear on our bodies are a complex combination of fibers, materials and accessories. They are made from a complex mix of natural fibers, synthetic fibers, plastics and metals.
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8. About 10% of the microplastics released into the ocean each year come from textiles.
Clothing is a great resource. Microplastic Because most of them are now made of nylon or polyester, both are durable and cheap. Each wash and dry cycle, especially the latter, removes microfilaments that circulate in our sewage system and end up in water lines. It is assumed that Half a million tons Some of these pollutants reach the ocean every year. That’s it. It is equivalent to 50 billion bottles of plastic pollution.
9. 2.6 million tons of recycled clothing ended up in landfills in the US alone in 2020.
Most items returned from consumers to retailers end up in landfills. This is because it costs the company more to get them back into circulation than to get rid of them. In the same year, reverse logistics company Optoro 16 million tons of CO2 emissions In the year Generated by online returns in the US in 2020 – the equivalent of emissions of 3.5 million cars on the road for one year.
10. Fast fashion brands are producing twice the amount of clothing today than they were in 2000.
This also resulted in a significant increase in production. one Addition of textile waste in both pre- and post-production. A large number of materials are wasted because they cannot be used anymore due to the number of cuts of clothes, according to a study, 15% of the fabric used to make clothes is wasted. Post-production, 60 percent of the approximately 150 million garments produced worldwide in 2012 were discarded within a few years of production.
Research for this article was conducted by Earth.Org Research Contributor Chloe Lam.
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