War On Waste; Fashion Waste.

This article was written by Samantha Alice and originally posted on her ecommerce blog ecomono.com.au which has now been closed.

Image: Change.org

Australia we are one the most wasteful countries in the world. This week War On Waste looked at the amount of fashion waste we produce here in Australia.

One thing that came up was how social media has fuelled the fast fashion industry, with brands spending millions on marketing each year to portray a lifestyle a consumer strives for. And how do they get that lifestyle? Buying more and more.

TOP 10 TAKE AWAYS FROM WAR ON WASTE:

1. Australians spend 500 Million on clothing each year, as a result of the disposable clothing culture. 

2. The average Australia spends $2,000 each year on clothing. 

3.  6,000KGs of clothes are thrown out ever 10 minutes and it all goes to landfill that means that every hour RIGHT HERE in Australia we dispose of 36,000KGS. In 1 year we throw out enough clothing to fill the MCG...2 and half times. 

4. Fashion goes from factory to shop floor quicker then ever before, with items going from manufacturing to retail in just 3-4 weeks. 

5. Uzbekistan is the largest producer of cotton, and one of the biggest impacts of fashion is the impact it has had on Uzbekistan's Aral Sea,  the environmental devastation in the Central Asian inland sea, once the world’s fourth largest lake, the Aral sea is almost completely dried out. Ships lay the dessert...where ocean used to lay.  Read more here

6. Did you know it take 2700 litres to produce 1 t-shirt? 

7. Smith Family Warehouse is the largest clothing recycling warehouse and process 3,000,000KGs of discarded clothes each year.  Read about their amazing initiative here. 

8. These days, clothing is sent to landfill within 1 year of being made. 

So, what can we do? It comes down to the consumer to slow down our fast fashion buying behaviour. It starts with us. Buy less, choose well, make it last. 

There was also some interesting facts on coffee cup waste - because believe it or not you cannot recycle coffee cups. If you want learn more about the being sustainable whilst drinking your coffee, check out our recent blog.

Originally published 30/05/2017, therefore some of the these facts maybe outdated.