How Much Waste Does Fast Fashion Produce?
Fast fashion produces the most waste in the fashion industry. The fast fashion industry is one of the most controversial fashion industry segments that contributes to high environmental impact.
This model of business forces the consumers and the producers to produce low priced and low quality products in bulk.
Then they quickly send the products to the consumers. The concept of fast fashion revolutionised the way consumers shop. This also has a significant environmental cost.
Also, the after use waste is a staggering number. It has an impact on the water too. But we need to know exactly how much waste does fast fashion produce annually.
One of the most common things about the fast fashion industry is its excessive waste, emission of carbon dioxide and global environmental impact.
During the production process of fast fashion a large amount of waste is produced.
How Much Waste Does Fast Fashion Produce?
It is significantly understandable that the fast fashion industry is producing 92 billion tons of fashion waste. It produces 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and carbon emission annually.
We can also see that the consumer of this fast fashion industry is impacting the environment in three stages.
The stages are the manufacturing process, the consumption process and the disposable process.
First, we need to know about fast fashion’s manufacturing process. Then, we will discuss how much carbon dioxide the fashion industry is producing at each stage.
Waste in Manufacturing and Production
The fashion industry begins with sourcing the raw materials. Many of the raw materials are directly sourced from the environment and petroleum based products.
Some of the most common fast fashion raw materials come from synthetic fibers like polyester based fibers.
This industry is responsible for producing over 100 billion pieces of garments each year. This number is rising day by day due to increased consumption behavior.
Textile Waste
During the manufacturing process a significant amount of fabric is wasted. It is said that during the cutting and pattern making time at least 20% of the fabric is wasted.
This means billions of tons of garments are being wasted even before they’re produced on stage.
We can also see that a significant amount of resources is also wasted. Water resources are also consumed in the process that affect the environment.
The manufacturing process takes 2700 liters of water to make a single cotton t-shirt.
High water use is also a common case in making jeans. Also dyeing the fabric takes a large quantity of fresh water.
These waters are often polluting the environment. Freshwater resources are plummeting with toxic chemicals.
Synthetic fiber used in fast fashion items generally are not biodegradable and requires high resource use. Brands are still failing to produce mass clothing with environmentally friendly fibers.
They release harmful waste and discard without care. In fact, these toxic fibers are a major contributor to microplastic pollution.
Each time they are thrown away they also produce a significant amount of polluted water.
Waste From Consumption
The fast fashion business model focuses more on the consumer’s frequent purchase. They produce cheap quality clothing items to keep the prices low. The purchaser often makes short-use of the products.
This frequent purchase of the consumers leads to unnecessary use trends and overconsumption. The brand is over manufacturing the product for the consumers.
Each year, globally 30% of the clothing produced is never sold and ultimately discarded.
92 million tons of textile waste is produced. The products of fast fashion have a shorter lifespan than those produced by sustainable brands.
In America, consumers are buying 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago. This is a rapid change of customer buying behavior.
The fast fashion industry uses plastic bags and boxes for packaging. That is also a significant player of waste.
When the consumers are using the product, they are also contributing to the environmental pollution.
When they are drying, or washing the product using detergent that is harmful for the environment. The washing process also pollutes the water with microplastics.
Waste From Disposal
Fast fashion items become out of style quickly. Sometimes even before the product is on display.
Simply because the new type of model appeared and that’s why the consumers typically throw away the product even before they use it.
It’s in that way 85% of the textile is discarded to the landfills annually.
That also contributes to the fast fashion trend. The majority of clothing items are not biodegradable and this can take centuries to dispose of synthetic fabrics.
It can also release chemicals. The toxic chemicals can also be reduced by repurposing and recycling.
But the recycling facility is also challenging to create. The repurpose and recycling of fabrics is creating an effective and inexpensive solution.
But the fast fashion trend forces the consumers to re-buy instead of recycling and reuse.
The land filters are filled with low used products. Disposal also contributes to the microplastics in the ocean. 35% of the ocean microplastic directly comes from synthetic fibers.
Synthetic fiber is also a direct contributor to microplastics in the rivers, ocean and other water resources. Microplastics and other chemicals pollute underground water.
The Environmental Impact
The environmental impact of fast fashion is high. 93 billion cubic meters of water annually used for production of textile items worldwide. This is equivalent to the water needs of a million people for an entire year.
This global water use is also contributing to environmental pollution. The fast fashion industry has a staggering 2% to 8% of the global carbon emissions. The carbon footprint is great for fast fashion.
Overall carbon footprint surpasses the combined international flights and maritime shipments.
Carbon footprint counts from synthetic fiber production as it is energy intensive and heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
Moving Towards A Solution
We should focus more on consumers and production centric processes to reduce the carbon and fashion waste.
We can make sustainable fashion choices. The consumers can make a difference by using a clothing item that is durable and sustainable.
The producers can focus more on producing high quality products that last longer. The second hand use and shipping of consumer items can also help to reduce the carbon footprint of fast fashion waste.
Clothing swaps also can be an available option for extending fashion life cycle. Fashion brands can focus on recycling.
The government’s attempts to promote upcycling means creating a completely new type of products using the existing fashion items.
The consumers can upcycle old clothes into new items that can reduce the textile waste. The industry needs to be more accountable.
The government can take initiatives to reduce carbon dioxide by forcing the producers to have a sustainable manufacturing process.
Some industries are committed to this fast fashion yet sustainable approach to meet the need for reducing waste and pollution.
The producers also need to be more innovative. They can create alternative natural fabrics that are easily biodegradable.
They can use the state of the art artificial intelligence technologies to reduce the production wastage and increase the efficiency of the in production facilities.
Some of the new technologies include waterless dyeing and printing that can contribute to the reduction of waste.
Some Few Words About Waste in Fast Fashion
The fashion industry is producing an immense amount of waste annually. The environment is at risk because of this fast fashion waste.
We cannot change the fast fashion behavior quickly. The fast fashion industry has rapidly contributed to the global economy.
We can take significant measures to increase the use of sustainability in production and use of modern technology.
The combination of consumer awareness, industry innovation, sustainability initiatives, can enable the industry to reduce carbon waste.
This journey to a more sustainable and waste conscious approach can change the world’s environmental impacts of fast fashion.
