Why is Waste Free Edmonton addressing fashion waste? Because it represents a significant share of waste generated today.
Did you know:
- Compared to 15 years ago, the average person buys 60% more items of clothing and keeps them for about half as long.
- Fashion clothing is worn approximately 7 times and has an average lifespan of 2.2 years
- The average person throws away 80 pounds of textiles annually, which adds up to 9.5 million tonnes of clothing going to the landfill every year in North America.
- 95% of clothing that is thrown away could be reused or recycled.
And it’s not just tied to the clothes on our backs. The industry itself has impact on the environment around them as well.
- It contributes 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
- It is the second largest sectoral polluter in the world.
- It produces nearly 20% of global waste water.9
- It uses 1/3 of the world’s freshwater resource and the amount of water required to fill the needs of 5 million people. A small scale example – producing 1 pair of jeans takes as much water as the average person drinks over a period of 7 years.
And the problem has only grown. Without intervention, the ecological footprint will continue to increase.
- Clothing waste is increasing dramatically as production and consumption continues to grow, particularly with the rise of “fast fashion”.
- Globally clothing consumption has doubled in the last 20 years ago.
- Continued growth is expected as we buy more clothes but wear them less.
- Clothing consumption expected to rise by 63% from 62 million tons in 2017 to 102 million tons in 2030.
- The fashion industry’s climate impact is expected to increase by 50% by 2030 to nearly 2.8 billion tons per year – equivalent to the emissions of 230 million passenger vehicles driven for a year.
What is Waste Free Edmonton doing to address fashion waste?
