FAST FASHION

Synthetic materials are the primary culprits that cause plastic microfibers to enter our oceans. To be exact, approximately 35% of all microplastics are from these synthetic materials. To further lower the price, producers turn to materials that may be of low quality. For example, many of the fibres are made of polyester, consisting of plastic and tend to release far more carbon emissions than cotton. Furthermore, plastic is slow to degrade in the ocean until a long time has passed. When plastic finally breaks down, it creates a toxic substance with a harmful impact on the marine ecosystems. As these plastic microfibers cannot be removed, they end up in the human food chain through aquatic life, causing many negative health effects. There are a variety of ways they can enter our ocean - most commonly from our usage of the washing machine. Though it is evident that the washing machine has been an essential appliance in our households, it’s important to wash full-loads when possible to minimise excess consumption of water. Due to how cheap and affordable clothing is nowadays and how new trends convince consumers to seek out more, the value of clothes may be a lot more discrete in the eyes of customers. Reports show that around 62 million metric tons of clothes, and much more were consumed globally in 2019. Over time, the amount that the world has consumed has skyrocketed in recent decades. Although it may be very helpful and beneficial to our economy, more items and clothes tend to end up at the landfills because the lower quality clothes are worn out only after just a few washes and this means that demands for more new clothes will rise. Amongst a variety of issues present, the two main concerns involve piles of clothing in landfills and burning clothing. Whether it is simply growing out of the clothes or that the clothes are no longer in style, a significant proportion of the population decides to throw away their clothes instead of donating them to charities such as Cancer Research, the Red Cross and many more. A large amount of materials are being wasted as they cannot be used any more for one certain type of production. Around 60% of all discarded clothing ends up in landfill and then the landfills start to pile up, then the trash is moved to an area to be burnt. This process poses multiple public health and environmental dangers and concerns to the people who live in nearby communities as toxic substances or large amounts of poisonous gases are released as a result of burning landfill and these textiles. Despite new technology creating filters to capture the pollutants, they remain present and often are turned into a dangerous substance, which later returns back to the landfills and pollutes our air.