Carbon emissions

Production and consumption of textiles contributes also to the climate crisis. According to a European Environment Agency report, textile purchases in the EU in 2022 generated about 355 kg of CO2 emissions per person, the equivalent of 1,800 km of travel by a standard petrol car.

Clothing waste in landfills and low recycling rates

Between 4% and 9% of all textile products put on the European market are destroyed without ever being used. Used clothes can be exported outside the EU but are mostly (87%) incinerated or landfilled.

The way people get rid of unwanted clothes has also changed, with items being thrown away rather than donated. Less than half of used garments are collected for reuse or recycling, and only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes, since technologies that would enable clothes to be recycled into virgin fibres are only now starting to emerge.

EUROPEAN PARLIEAMENT

According to an analysis by Business Insider, fashion production comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions, as much as the emissions generated by the European Union. The industry dries up water sources and pollutes rivers and streams, while 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibres into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles.

The Quantis International 2018 report found that the three main drivers of the industry’s global pollution impacts are dyeing and finishing (36%), yarn preparation (28%) and fibre production (15%). The report also established that fibre production has the largest impact on freshwater withdrawal (water diverted or withdrawn from a surface water or groundwater source) and ecosystem quality due to cotton cultivation, while the dyeing and finishing, yarn preparation and fibre production stages have the highest impacts on resource depletion, due to the energy-intensive processes based on fossil fuel energy.

According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, emissions from textile manufacturing alone are projected to skyrocket by 60% by 2030.