Fashion is costing the earth
Last year, around 50,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles were dumped in landfills.
Last year, around 50,000 tonnes of clothing and textiles were dumped in landfills.
According to the tag, the jumper on the rack at Farmers was made from “luxuriously soft fabrics, brushed on the inside, creating warmth and softness for the ultimate in comfort”. However, a closer look at the label revealed the jumper was 100% polyester.
It’s a bit of a stretch to describe polyester as “luxurious”. It’s used in about 60% of our clothes and is made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource (see our Table). And, once that jumper’s done its dash, it’s unlikely it’ll be recycled into new clothing – it’s cheaper to make polyester from scratch than to recycle.
At budget retailer The Warehouse, 38% of clothing is made from polyester and other synthetic fibres (acrylic, nylon and elastane). Another 36% is made from cotton blended with synthetics. The rest is cotton or wool. The company said it’s aware of the effects of manufactured textiles and intends “to move towards higher percentages of sustainable fibres”.
Cheap synthetic fabrics, coupled with inexpensive labour in countries such as China and Bangladesh, have made clothing more affordable. Prices for women’s clothing have fallen 3% in the past two years.
Some of us ease our minds, and bulging wardrobes, by dropping off used clothes to charity shops. However, it’s far from a perfect fix.
Last year, New Zealand exported more than 6549 tonnes of used clothes. Most went to Papua New Guinea, with the rest going as far as the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands.
The Salvation Army estimates about 20% of donated stock goes to the tip. Some Red Cross shops mend clothes and turn leftover stock into shopping bags. However, even then there are garments that just can’t be saved and end up in the landfill.
“Fast fashion has created cheaply made clothing that often won’t last the life of one person, let alone multiple [people],” said Millie Lambess, St Vincent de Paul Society Wellington communications and marketing manager.
Suitable items that can’t be sold or repurposed at St Vinnies are given to Save Mart, a business that operates clothing bins and sells second-hand garments at its outlets.
“Currently this is the only option for these goods instead of sending to landfill, but we’re always looking at new opportunities for sustainable distribution” Ms Lambess said.
Save Mart said what it can’t sell locally, then goes overseas. Clothes that can’t be worn, go to landfill.
Last year, New Zealand exported more than 6549 tonnes of used clothes. Most went to Papua New Guinea, with the rest going as far as the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands.
What can you do to avoid adding to the problem? Here’s our advice:
Buying a garment made from organic cotton means you’re getting clothing produced to a higher environmental standard. However, it isn’t always easy to tell whether it’s the real deal.
We bought a T-shirt advertised as 100% organic cotton from Postie for $5, but there was nothing at the online checkout or on the shirt to back up its organic claim. The T-shirt tag had a logo that could have been mistaken for an organic certification tick – but it wasn’t an official stamp of approval.
Getting information about the shirt shows how complicated the fashion supply chain can be. Postie bought cotton certified under the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
Although Postie said the shirt was made in a GOTS-certified factory, the cut, sew and trim process weren’t GOTS certified, so it didn’t apply for the logo.
The store said it would “review GOTS certification of products going forward”.
There are two GOTS certifications: its “organic” certification requires a product to have at least 95% organic fibres; its “made with organic” label requires at least 70% organic fibres.
The other main organic standard for textiles is the Organic Content Standard (OCS). It also has two certifications: OCS 100, which means the product has 95% organic material, and OCS blended, which means the product has at least 5% organic material.
Rather than throwing your unwanted clothes into landfill, they can be turned into common household items — the only limit is your imagination!
“Think about the plastic you use in your house and see how you can replace it with textiles,” said Caroline O’Reilly, textile recycling coordinator and sewing tutor at Vinnies Re Sew.
The Re Sew initiative aims to reduce textile waste while creating work experience opportunities for the community. They give finished products to people who use St Vinnies’ services.
Caroline’s team uses fabrics from clothes, as well as other donated textiles, to make an array of household and clothing items.
Face and baby wipes are made out of old T-shirts and cotton. Her team also makes re-useable sanitary pads.
You don’t even need a sewing machine to make a T-shirt bag. Caroline said you can cut the sleeves off, cut around the neck, and sew up the bottom of the shirt using a running stitch.
Instead of using plastic or beeswax wraps, cut out a circle of cloth and stitch elastic into the inner circle and use it to cover food in the fridge (see “Beeswax wraps”).
You can even use the fabric from an umbrella as the lining of a reusable sandwich bag. If you can’t beg or borrow a sewing machine, check if any local community centres have a textile recycling programme.
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