Fran Brady is the Quaker representative on the ECI committee and she has contributed the following article:
According to Threads of Truth 170,000 tonnes of post-consumer textiles are discarded every year in Ireland. This amounts to about 35 kg per person, higher than the European average. Just a little over one-third of these textiles is collected. A substantial amount ends up in black bins alongside other household waste.
Threads of Truth, a project run by Voice of Irish Concern about the Environment (Voice), uses airtags in an effort to track discarded clothing and gather information on textile waste and the lifecycle of clothes. Clothing banks are not obliged to report where they send discarded clothing. Threads of Truth endeavours to find out where discarded clothes go and what happens to them. They are unable to have an exact answer for what happens to many of the items tracked.
A black turtle sweater reached Pakistan, but it was not possible to find out what happened to it there. Pakistan is a recycling hub for clothing. However, because the composition of this item is a blend, it would be unlikely to be recycled. Was it shredded, dumped, burned? This perfectly reusable sweater could end up part of a global textile waste crisis.
Of 27 items, most travelled thousands of kilometres, ending up in countries like Togo, Kenya, Pakistan and the UAE. If Ireland had to manage its own discarded textiles, we would be overwhelmed with waste without the capacity to reuse or recycle it. The rise of fast fashion has resulted in an enormous amount of cheap clothes made from synthetic materials which are often not suitable for resale or reuse.
Some African countries have viable second-hand clothing markets, while others such as Ghana are being overwhelmed with the importation of low-quality clothing which is not suitable for sale. With poor or no recycling facilities, items that cannot be sold end up being burned or put in landfill. This influx of used clothes is also detrimental to the local clothing trade. The consequences of the global movement of textile waste is leading to what could be described as Waste Colonialism.
What can we do to avoid this rising Waste Colonialism?
We could buy fewer clothes.
Check that they are made of natural fibres such as cotton, wool or linen.
Donate clean and untorn clothes to a known charity shop.
Buy from a charity shop.