- A large pile of unworn clothes piled up in the Atacama Desert in Chile.
- It is estimated that 39,000 tons of clothes that cannot be sold in the United States or Europe are eventually shipped to Chile each year.
- Old clothes occupy a large area of the desert, and the dunes are covered with a layer of discarded textiles.
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In the Chilean desert, piles of old clothes were discarded, adding a new grave to the fast-expanding fast-fashion product line.
According to a report Agence France-Presse, A large number of clothes are made up of clothes made in China and Bangladesh, and these clothes enter stores in the United States, Europe and Asia. When the clothing was not purchased, they were taken to the port of Iquique in Chile and sold to other Latin American countries.
Agence France-Presse found that about 59,000 tons of garments eventually reach Chilean ports every year. Of this, 39,000 tons were transferred to landfills in the desert.
Alex Carreno, a former employee of the Iquique port import department, told AFP that the dress “comes from all over the world.” Carreno added that when goods cannot be resold in Latin America, most of the clothes are later disposed of.
The old clothes brought to the desert pile for processing have now covered the entire land of the Atacama Desert in Alto Hospicio, Chile.
“The problem is that these clothes are not biodegradable and contain chemical products, so municipal landfills do not accept it,” said Franklin Zepeda, founder of EcoFibra, which is trying to use waste clothes outside of them by making insulating panels.
Zepeda, whose company has Use textile waste to make its thermal and sound insulation building insulators Since 2018, he told AFP that he wanted to “stop being a problem and start becoming a solution”.
Fast Fashion, Although affordable, yes Extremely harmful to the environment.
On the one hand, the fashion industry accounts for 8% to 10% of global carbon emissions, according to A sort ofIn 2018, the fashion industry was also found to consume more energy than Combination of aviation industry and shipping industry. Researchers estimate The clothes equivalent to a garbage truck are burned every second and sent to the landfill.
The speed at which consumers buy clothing has not slowed down.According to statistics Alan MacArthur FoundationIt is a British think tank and circular economy charity. From 2004 to 2019, the output of clothing doubled in 15 years.McKinsey also estimates that the average consumer buys 60% more clothes There were more in 2014 than in 2000.
