Part 4. The capitalist system is putting stress on the environment creating a need for systemic change. In the capital city of Accra, Ghana, millions of secondhand clothing items are imported weekly and sold at the Kantamanto Market. Import traders sort through the clothing and discard an estimated 40% as it is unsellable because of inadequate quality.(6) The unsold portion is driven to a landfill located 2 hours outside of the city. Synthetic textiles can take hundreds of years to decompose, and the landfill which was created to help solve the textile waste problem from the Kantamanto Market reached capacity in only 5 years. Generations who are living next to the mountain of waste will have to deal with this issue for over a century. During monsoon season heavy rainfall will collect unsold clothing filling the market streets, washing them into open sewers and uncovered storm drains, clogging waterways, and traveling as far as the ocean. Textile waste that accumulates on beaches becomes embedded in the sand as deep as 15 ft. The trapped clothing is harmful to aquatic life, swimmers, and boats when it washes offshore.
Synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic make up an estimated 30% of microplastic microfiber pollutants in both the air and water. Microplastic particles in the air travel into lung tissue causing cough and reduced lung capacity. This does not only affect textile workers who process these materials, between 14.000 and 68.000 particles found in domestic households are ingested per person annually.(7) Laundering of these fibers results in microplastics migrating out into the ocean, making their way into the digestive system of humans who eat the fish that have been exposed to microplastics in their environment. This cyclical nature of the fashion industry affects all organisms in its path.
Fast fashion production creates about 10% of global carbon emissions annually, and approximately 92 million tons of textile waste are incinerated or dumped in a landfill every year. The fast fashion industry requires an estimated 79 trillion liters of water for garment dying and textile treatments, contributing to 20% of the world’s industrial water pollution.(8) The textile manufacturing process uses 15,000 different types of chemicals during fiber production which include pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides for cotton production. Links have been made from these agrochemicals to neurological afflictions, infertility issues, and birth defects, as well as respiratory issues and other health concerns. The chemicals that leach into the soil decrease biodiversity and terminate the plants, microorganisms, and insects that reside in these areas. Other chemicals that are used in the processing of fibers have known toxic contributions to human health and the environment, but the levels vary among types of fibers. Among the main 6 types of fibers used, hemp production has the lowest impact on energy and water consumption, and carbon emissions, but is the least utilized.
(6) “The Environmental Disaster That Is Fueled by Used Clothes and Fast Fashion | Foreign Correspondent,” YouTube (Australian Broadcasting Corporation YouTube channel, August 12, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB3kuuBPVys.
(7) Ana I. Catarino et al., “Low Levels of Microplastics (MP) in Wild Mussels Indicate That MP Ingestion by Humans Is Minimal Compared to Exposure via Household Fibres Fallout during a Meal,” Environmental Pollution 237 (2018): pp. 675-684, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.02.069.
(8) Kirsi Niinimäki et al., “The Environmental Price of Fast Fashion,” Nature Reviews Earth &Amp; Environment 1, no. 4 (July 2020): pp. 189-200, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9.
Comments