The Current Downfalls of Clothing Recycling
Written by Ali Kian
As its name would suggest, the global fast fashion market is one that moves swiftly. Leading fast fashion brands like H&M and SHEIN rely upon “microseasons”, or the frequent and successive release of new collections (sometimes on a weekly basis) in order to encourage customers to browse their stores or sites more often. This fast-moving component to the industry means that many brands that fall under this category release a new collection every week– a stark contrast to the four collection per year norm of more traditional fashion labels. The industry’s reliance on microseasons has been profitable for them but intensely costly for the planet and its inhabitants. 100 billion garments are produced per year on average, 92 tons of which are disposed of in landfills soon after they go out of style or fall apart due to poor quality. Amid this increasing influx of discarded clothing, the concept of clothing recycling has become more prevalent within discourse regarding lessening the environmental effects of the fast fashion industry. However, the current status of clothing recycling technology suggests that this compromise between stakeholders and fast fashion companies is an ineffective resolution that can be manipulated by companies in order to perpetuate greenwashing.
The question is: why is this case? After all, recycling is touted as a viable, eco-friendly option in other circumstances. Presently, only 13.5% of materials used to manufacture clothing and shoes are recycled. A big reason for this wittles down to the very materials that are being used by fast fashion companies. Due to the lack of large-scale clothing recycling technology, discarded clothing must be hand-sorted and categorized according to materials and dyes. This makes the process arduous, expensive, and slow, factors that mean recycling can’t stand a chance against the constant, cheap manufacturing of fast fashion clothing brands. In reality, it would take ten years to recycle the clothing that fast fashion conglomerate Inditex produces in a mere few days, indicating that recycling technology may never become a commercial-scale solution. What’s more, a slim proportion of these clothes can actually be recycled; in fact, less than 1% of discarded clothing can be recycled into new materials due to various impeding issues, one of which being the low strength of materials used by fast fashion brands. Ultimately, most clothing is “recycled” by being torn up and sent over to developing countries in unmanageable amounts to be used as furniture stuffing. To make matters worse, much of the fast fashion industry’s products are made up of plastics which continue to impose adverse effects on the environment even after being recycled.
So, given these issues, how is it that some brands like H&M and Zara have touted clothing recycling as the key to solving the environmental drawbacks of fast fashion production? This is because it enables them to reap the benefits of profiting from a growing segment of eco-conscious consumers while maintaining their lucrative business model. Vague sustainability claims have become the bread and butter of fast fashion brands, like ASOS, H&M, and Zara, which have been trying to repair their image as information about the destructive and unethical practices of fast fashion companies has become more widespread. They benefit from flexible ratings systems and misleading claims such as labeling clothes as being made up of 100% recycled materials when really they are referring to the tags themselves. Ultimately, the true solution to fast fashion’s eco crisis is to produce less clothing overall. But with brands like H&M promising persistent, large-scale growth despite their destructive carbon footprints, this option seems nearly as futuristic and implausible as commercial-scale clothing recycling technology.
Sources:
https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/what-is-fast-fashion#:~:text=mid%2D2000s.%E2%80% 9D-,Nowadays%2C%20fast%20fashion%20brands%20produce%20about%2052%20%E2%80% 9Cmicro%2Dseasons,new%20%E2%80%9Ccollection%E2%80%9D%20a%20week.
https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/#:~:text=92%20Million%20Tonnes%20of%2 0Textiles,on%20landfill%20sites%20every%20second.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obO1PKfXGpQ