Fast Fashion And What Can Be Done To Help Reduce Clothing Waste

The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined, which is a staggering thought. Although some steps are being taken within the industry to try and lower this impact, the UK’s fashion habit continues to grow. With cheap clothing continuing to be readily available, people are changing their wardrobes regularly, with some choosing quantity over quality in order to keep up with the latest fashion trends and changing fashion seasons. Here, we discuss what the impact of this Fast Fashion is and what we can do to help clothing waste.

With fast fashion still happening, thousands of items of clothing are ending up at the landfill every few minutes. In addition to this, the water consumed whilst creating these garments is exponential, with almost 2000 gallons of water being used to make a single pair of jeans.

Unfortunately, it is not just the manufacturing and distribution of clothes that takes its toll on the environment. Washing some types of clothes has been proven to send bits of plastic into the ocean. It is these microplastics that can have severe effects to ecosystems and wildlife.

Despite this environmental impact, the fast fashion industry has grown, there are many things we can change about the way we shop to help limit this adverse impact.

Buy quality not quantity

It is surprising how few items of clothing you need to create an amazing capsule wardrobe. By wearing your clothes for longer, the carbon footprint can be lowered significantly.

Buy clothes to last

When deciding what to buy, choose items that you think will last. If they are high enough quality, they could even get handed down to future generations.

Shop in charity stores

Charity shops are a great place to find some real gems. By not buying new, you are automatically reducing the carbon footprint and helping to avoid clothes ending up in landfill sites.

Swap and Share

Get together with friends and organise a clothing exchange. Organise a party where each person brings a few items of clothing that they no longer want. Trade them with each other so that everyone ends up with a new item to take home without having to spend a penny.

Donate

Before sending your clothes to the landfill try and donate them instead. Donating to charities is a great way to give back to the community and allows you to organize your wardrobes and free up some space at the same time.

Repurpose Items

If you are undertaking DIY or messy jobs at home, keep your old clothes for this purpose. They can be great for house cleaning, painting and decorating.

Get Creative

If you are getting bored with your clothes, there is lots of inspiration online to help you turn a piece of clothing into something completely different and inject a new life into the piece.

Buy Sustainably

Wherever possible, avoid unsustainable supply chains.

Freshen up your look

Create a whole new look by simply adding different accessories as opposed to buying completely new outfits.

Organise your wardrobe

By keeping your wardrobe tidy and having all your clothes on display will make it easier to pick outfits and means you are less likely to go and buy items that you already own something similar but you had forgotten you had.

Although fast fashion has the benefit of making shopping for clothes extremely affordable, it comes at an environmental cost. With the high use of carbon, water and other resources, it also leads to colossal amounts of waste at the landfill. However, by making small changes to the way we approach to fashion and shopping, we can make and difference and help reduce the amount of clothing waste we have.

To find out more about how we can help you with your waste disposal needs, please contact us on 0800 083 7807 or visit our website for further information.