My recent post highlighted Ghana’s plight in waste colonialism related to the textile trade. This time we focus on Chile. Chile is Latin America’s biggest consumer of clothes and, in 2022, imported around 124,000 tonnes of second-hand textiles from across the world. In the same year, it was estimated that 300 hectares in northern Chile had been contaminated by textile waste. The world’s chronic overproduction of textiles and fast fashion culture are a big part of this story.

It is generally well known that microplastic particles are found all over our environment, including in the food we eat. Alarmingly, one of the biggest reasons behind that is the textile industry, the third-largest consumer of plastic, standing just behind packaging and construction. Clothing items from familiar fast-fashion brands have been found to contain plastic fibres which not only end up in landfills and oceans, but consequently in our food, seriously impacting our phy

According to the UN, clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2015 and the world produces around 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year, 89% of which contains synthetic fibres. If we continue with our throwaway fast fashion culture, this situation will only get worse. Sub-Saharan Africa is a major destination for the Global North’s unwanted clothing, receiving 70% of the world’s donated clothing. Shockingly, some of these clothes arrive in Africa having been slashed t

Millions of new clothes are produced every year for the $2.5 trillion global fashion industry. Many of these items are inexpensive fast-fashion pieces made of plastic fabrics derived from petrochemicals, such as polyester, acrylic, and nylon. Buying clothing made of plastic fabrics may seem like an affordable and harmless way to keep up with the latest trends. However, these clothes can have a major impact on your health. Every time you wash a polyester shirt or jacket, the p

While clothes made of recycled plastic may sound like a good idea, they can cause environmental harm at multiple levels. First, recycled polyester used to produce textiles comes mostly from plastic bottles rather than from textile waste. This means that recyclable plastic bottles get downcycled into clothes, which cannot be further recycled and instead end in landfill or incinerators. The second problem is the greenwashing of plastic-made garments by the fashion industry. Cur

Over the last few months, you might have noticed more news stories talking about forever chemicals. But you might not realise the true...

If you are thinking of heading out on your daily run, walk or hike, have a read of how the chemicals in your clothing could be affecting...

Half a million tons of plastic microfibres, found in many fast fashion clothing items, are being dumped into the ocean each year,...

The Situation In recent years, brands such as H&M and Primark have advertised their clothing ranges made from recycled bottles. Brands...

Plastic-free and sustainable clothing are big news right now, and for good reason. People are starting to realise the implications of our...