MADE TO THROW AWAY

Cheap clothing that’s manufactured in China and dumped in Chile – how the fast-fashion industry is polluting the environment

- KIM ABRAHAMS

IN NUMBERS

200 YEARS How long it takes for synthetic clothing or clothing that has been treated with chemicals to biodegrade.

7500 LITRES The amount of water it takes to make a pair of jeans.

2700 LITRES How much water it takes to create one T-shirt – the equivalent of 25 bathtubs.

13KG The weight of textiles produced globally, per person every year.

$25 BILLION (R375 BILLION) How much money the fast-fashion industry made in 2020.

YOUR favourite celeb pouts at you from your Instagram feed in an outfit to die for. Scrolling on, you encounter an ad for a similar outfit at a fraction of the price and a few clicks later it’s heading your way.

You wear it a few times until it starts to look a bit shabby then you toss it away. Whatever – it didn’t cost much anyway. But the phenomenon of fast fashion – fashionable but poorly made garments designed to be tossed out after a few wears so consumers can buy more and more – is steadily poisoning a planet already in peril.

In Chile’s Atacama Desert toxic mountains of dumped high-fashion clothing are growing daily. Some 39 000 tons of unsold and donated clothing are discarded here every year and, with no legal way to dispose of it, the textiles are burnt – releasing toxic fumes from the chemicals used to make the garments.