The Fashion Industry and Environmental Pollution

Hong Seung-hyun(Issue Briefing Team)

Prologue

Not long ago, I had the chance to watch a TV environmental documentary, 'No Earth for Fashion.' The scenes in the documentary were absolutely harrowing. On the banks of a river in an African country, clothing waste piled up like mountains, and shockingly, cows were consuming the clothing instead of grazing on grass. In another Asian country was a river polluted by the discharge of wastewater from textile dyeing factories, where fish could no longer survive, leaving the livelihoods of the local residents in jeopardy.

In this way, the clothing we easily discard and thoughtlessly dispose of is silently wreaking havoc on the environment and threatening lives in unseen places. Just because it's not visible before our eyes doesn't mean we can ignore this undeniable reality any longer.

How and to what extent is the global fashion industry polluting the Earth's environment?

People drop off their clothings into commonly-available clothing collection bins without hesitation in the hope that someone else will wear them. Among the clothes collected, those in good condition are resold as secondhand clothing in thrift stores in Seoul and various regions. However, the percentage of domestically collected used clothing that gets recycled is only around 12% of the total.

Of the rest of the clothes, some are incinerated, some are buried in the ground, and the majority are exported to other countries. Currently, South Korea's used clothing export volume ranks fifth in the world, following the U.S., China, the U. K., and Germany. They are mostly exported to countries with lower income levels such as Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Ghana. The clothes exported in this manner often go unconsumed in these countries as well, ending up discarded along riverbanks, beaches, emitting foul odors and toxic chemical pollutants, polluting the environment. It is truly no different from garbage waste disposal. The used clothes we casually place in clothing collection bins cross borders and pollute the environment.

Why is there such a significant amount of clothing waste generated?

The primary cause of the increasing clothing waste is the excessive production by manufacturers. Companies constantly encourage consumption and increase production levels to boost profits. The emergence of fast fashion further magnifies the characteristics of this capitalism, dominating the global fashion industry.

Fast fashion refers to clothing that is produced quickly and consumed rapidly, reflecting the latest trends. This creates a consumer pattern where clothes worn for only a single season are discarded, and new ones are purchased. Fashion companies also contribute to this by producing clothing with low durability for items that are not in trends, leading to a constant cycle of discarding old clothing and buying new ones.

The domestic clothing waste amounts to 80,000 tons annually. According to the Ministry of Environment, the volume of clothing waste increased by 24.2% from 66,000 tons in 2018 to 82,000 tons in 2020. When combined with waste fibers discarded from fashion company factories, this figure swells to a total of 370,000 tons per year. Excessive production leads to this clothing waste, and it indiscriminately pollutes the environment throughout the recycling and disposal (landfill and incineration) processes.

Environmental pollution occurs more in the production process than in the discarding process. It's known that producing a single t-shirt consumes 2,700 liters of water, and to grow cotton for this purpose, a significant amount of pesticides is used, equivalent to 24% of global usage. Furthermore, 20% of global wastewater generation is attributed to the production of clothing. Moreover, the amount of plastic used in the clothing production accounts for 20% of the world's plastic production. Plastic used in clothing production is released as microplastics during washing, contributing to water pollution issues as well.

The foremost cause exacerbating this environmental pollution is the indiscriminate overproduction by companies. Globally, out of the roughly one trillion clothing items produced annually, 73% (equivalent to 330 billion items) are incinerated, often within just one year, for the sake of 'brand value maintenance.' The greenhouse gases emitted during clothing production and disposal processes account for 10% of the total emissions.

The main culprit, capitalist economy

Environmental pollution doesn't just occur in visible places where fossil fuels are burned, like cars and power plants; it also happens on a massive scale in the clothing we casually buy and discard.

Capitalism, in its pursuit of greater profits, chooses underdeveloped countries with low environmental regulations and low wages for production. It freely produces and pollutes the environment. Meanwhile, in wealthier nations with stricter environmental regulations, it sells cheap clothing products, encouraging overconsumption. Furthermore, to maximize profits, excess production occurs, and what remains unsold is incinerated without hesitation, in order to avoid lowering prices.

What should be done to address the crisis caused by environmental pollution, for the survival of all humanity?

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been recording more than 400ppm for several years, leading to an increase in average temperatures. Our planet, in the form of an abnormal climate, constantly sends warning signals, but those in power seem to lack the will to address the problem.

So, what should we do for the survival of all humanity and the preservation of our ecosystems? There seem to be only two possible approaches. Either we gather our collective strength, engage in a struggle to wrest political power from the privileged, and invest capital to save the environment ourselves, or, even if we can't take away their power, we must at least compel the privileged to invest capital in saving the environment. In whatever form, we must stop the unbridled pursuit of capital for the sake of the survival of all humanity. Otherwise, we cannot guarantee the right to survival for all. 

What's even more frightening is the possibility that even if the Earth's environment is severely destroyed in the future, to the point where humanity is almost wiped out, some of the giant capitalists may continue to exist, utilizing the artificial intelligence and other technologies they monopolize. In other words, the colossal wealth may choose to ignore the existential crisis we feel.

Reference 

TV Documentary, KBS 환경스페셜 ‘옷을 위한 지구는 없다’

https://m.blog.naver.com/hkbs_7114/223158259196

https://www.hankyung.com/economy/article/2022111767791 https://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.naver?volumeNo=35995066&memberNo=36405506&vType=VERTICAL