Unwanted clothing is gathering up in toxic waste sites, clogging waterways and smouldering in burn piles across the global south. What are fashion retailers doing about it?

recycling denim

Mud Jeans allows shoppers to lease a pair of denims for a year for €9.95 a month

 

  • Over 1.4 million tonnes of unwanted clothing end up in municipal waste in England alone, making up 5.5% of unrecycled waste in the country
  • Concern over the transparency of textile recycling and clothing take-back schemes
  • H&M has set up recycling investment arm H&M CO:LAB and is growing its preloved items operation
  • Retailers urged to ‘recognise they don’t have all the answers’ and work with partners in the global south

Textile waste is an environmental catastrophe. Every second, the equivalent of a rubbish truckload of clothes is burnt or buried in landfill, says the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says each year over 1.4 million tonnes of unwanted clothes make their way into municipal waste in England alone, making up 5.5% of unrecycled waste in the country.

That figure does not include items that have been donated to charity shops, placed in recycling banks or given to clothing take-back schemes – many of which are not recycled or resold, but exported abroad.

It is in the textile wastelands in the global south that the real problems begin. Large volumes are sent to countries such as Ghana and Chile where, after adept cleaning, tailoring and upcycling, it is sold in second-hand textile markets.

But as fast fashion has tightened its grip on Europe and the US, the quality of clothing has worsened, and organisations on the ground say traders are finding it increasingly difficult to make use of it. Stuck with mountains of unusable material, and lacking the infrastructure required to process it, cheap clothes are gathering at toxic waste sites, clogging rivers and mounting in burn piles, where they inevitably pollute airways and cause damage to the local environment. 

As fast fashion has tightened its grip on Europe and the US, the quality of clothing has worsened

Governments in these countries are unwilling to ban clothing imports due to the secondhand industry that now relies on them; at the same time, they cannot afford to build the infrastructure required to help deal with the problems they’re creating.

As production volumes continue to grow, how are retailers taking responsibility for their post-consumer waste pile? Who is setting the standard for closing the clothing loop? And which schemes are actually working?

Made-to-order, hire and recyclability

The made-to-order model is increasingly popular with smaller brands selling high-quality, everyday wear.

East London retailer Birdsong allows shoppers to pre-order one new limited edition ‘made to last’ item of clothing each month, and personalise the colours, details and measurements before it’s made by hand in its studio. 

Rental is also playing a role. In womenswear, marketplaces like Hurr and Hirestreet are leading the way, while in menswear, ACS has provided white-label rental services since the early 2000s. The concept is also cropping up within standalone brands. Mud Jeans allows shoppers to lease a pair of denims for a year for €9.95 a month (£8.72), at the end of the year shoppers can keep them or send them back to be made into a new pair. 

Primark recycling programme

Primark has teamed with Recover fibre for clothing in its Primark Cares range

Recycling comes with a range of complexities, including traceability, recyclability and energy use, but some retailers have made great strides to simplify the process before their products hit shelves. Cornwall-based outdoor clothing brand Finisterre – which sells online and via six stores across the UK –  employs a range of climate-friendly initiatives in its design process. It’s working to not only prioritise natural fabrics but swap harmful petrochemical-based materials for recyclable alternatives, and it has also developed its first biodegradable jacket.

Another way to tackle the waste pile-up is to create demand for it by using recycled fibres. Primark has teamed with Recover fibre for clothing in its Primark Cares range. But fibre-to-fibre technologies, such as that created by Finnish company Infinited Fiber, which creates a thread from discarded cotton and other cellulose-rich materials, are still in the process of scaling up operations and tend to have more demand than they can meet.

Take-back schemes

Clothing and textile take-back schemes are now commonplace in larger retailers, from H&M to M&S, but it’s not always possible to understand where that waste ends up.

Cristina Sabaiduc, senior sector specialist for textiles at recycling charity WRAP, says the transparency of the used textiles market is limited. 

“While brands and retailers are increasingly collecting used textiles from customers, the problem of out-of-country traceability that the reuse and recycling sector has been battling with for a long time still stands.” 

H&M partners with London College of Fashion to launch Fashion Recycling Week

Clothing and textile take-back schemes are now commonplace in larger retailers like H&M

The problem, she says, is that used textiles can be exempt from being reported as waste. “Once items are exported, visibility of onward channels is almost non-existent.” WRAP itself is leading on Textiles 2030, a voluntary agreement for retailers keen to shift to a circular model, while the British Retail Consortium set up a Circular Clothing and Textiles Working Group in summer 2021.

But working to reduce waste while production continues to grow means retailers are fighting a losing battle, and the industry is not even close to making a dent in clothing waste, or the environmental havoc it wreaks 

Consultancy McKinsey says circularity is nearly non-existent in the fashion industry. No recycling technology is able to operate at scale yet, and while less than 1% of clothes are recycled into new clothes, garment production volumes are growing by 2.7% annually.

Working to reduce waste while production continues to grow means retailers are fighting a losing battle

The Or Foundation, a US-based charity that works on the ground in Kantamanto Market in the Ghanian capital of Accra, says 15 million used items enter Ghana every week, with 40% of them being waste. 

As Sabaiduc says: “Retailers aren’t doing enough yet, and they won’t be able to solve this problem on their own.”

Extended Producer Responsibility funds

As well as reducing the amount of waste produced, retailers can also take responsibility for it once consumers have discarded items. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) funds are considered one of the best ways to ensure improved infrastructure by organisations on the ground. 

The UK government is implementing an EPR scheme in 2024 for packaging waste and is now considering one for textile waste. It has been reported that a consultation would begin in 2022, although a spokesperson for Defra was unable to confirm this or give a date. The spokesperson said: “At present, we are considering what framework of policy options could best help reduce waste and the environmental footprint of the textiles and fashion industry.”

Shein app

Shein has allocated a $50m (£43.8m) fund over five years

Chinese fast-fashion etailer Shein is the first in its industry to take the EPR approach, allocating a $50m (£43.8m) fund over five years. As part of this, it has allocated $15m (£13.1m) over three years to The Or Foundation, which will use it, among other things, to work with kayayei, female porters as young as eight who carry heavy bales of clothing on their heads. The organisation provides medical treatment to help rectify musculoskeletal issues before providing access to apprenticeships and training, allowing the women and girls to transition out of the trade. 

Co-founder of the Or Foundation Liz Ricketts says she accepted the money despite disagreeing with Shein’s fast-fashion business model, saying she took it because “it’s not about me. Our community has been asking us, when is someone going to acknowledge us? And second, when is somebody going to step up and support and do what’s right?”

Ricketts adds she had hoped the news would prompt other fashion retailers to get in touch but says no brands have done so. “When I made the announcement, I challenged other brands to step up and no one has been in contact. They definitely know how to reach us.”

“When is somebody going to step up and support and do what’s right?”

Liz Ricketts, co-founder of the Or Foundation

Retail Week approached six brands about their plans to tackle post-consumer waste and received only one response. H&M pointed to a raft of measures it is putting in place to reduce waste, such as its recycling investment arm H&M CO:LAB and its growing preloved operation. When it comes to investing in infrastructure or partnering with organisations in countries where fashion waste is causing problems, the business said it is looking into these areas but cannot share details of its plans yet.

Ricketts says that in her experience, brands have not wanted to give money directly to organisations on the ground unless they control the agenda. 

“Certainly, we haven’t had any other brands listen to what we think is important and trust us, or trust the community that we work with, to know what solutions make sense in this context. Or really, I think it’s not so much about trusting us, it’s about a willingness to de-centre themselves a little bit and recognise they don’t have all the answers.”

She adds Kantamanto is the biggest reuse and upcycling market in the world and says solutions for the waste crisis exist within local expertise. 

“In terms of the skills, mindset and ideas for realising circularity, it’s here. What’s needed is the financial resources to try to bring those ideas to life.”

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