Earth Day: Buying used clothing can reduce pollution impact

The clothing industry emits 10% of the contaminants globally, so it is important to promote the use of second-hand garments and encourage greater consumer participation, a representative of the sector warned this Saturday.

The production, transport, sale, consumption, use and disposal of clothing is responsible for at least 10% of global emissions of environmental pollutants And these percentages are increasing, Ana Isabel Orvañanos, “country manager” of the firm GoTrendier, said in a statement on the occasion of Earth Day.

The GoTrendier board of directors, a second-hand fashion sale and purchase community in Mexico, indicated that one of the biggest causes of climate change is the carbon dioxide (CO2) and stressed, in this sense, that the fashion industry in the country is one of the most contaminants.

“We have heard about the record for the hottest day in Mexico, it is increasingly constant that contingency days are activated that seek to balance air quality and not to mention the reduction in the quality and quantity of water”, Orvañanos said.

In addition, the emissions CO2 They generate soil degradation and cause the destruction of the tropical forest by cutting down thousands of trees to manufacture cellulose-based fabrics, which are low-price-quality clothing material.

According to conTreebute, a company specializing in sustainabilityhe average use of a new garment is just seven uses before taking it out of the closet.

This situation implies that, if the so-called “fast fashion” continues, the emissions of CO2 will increase by almost 50% by 2030.

“The era of fast and excessive consumption has made us buy more than we need, a practice that is not sustainable, since what you decide to buy and what you have in your closet is related to the ecological disaster we are currently experiencing”he claimed.

Reverse the situation

Faced with this situation, Orvañanos mentioned that acquiring a used garment can avoid 80% of emissions generated by a new one.

He explained that the business model of the “fast fashion” It consists of offering buyers trendy products at very low prices, which causes the annual waste of millions of tons of clothes that end up burned or buried in landfills.

He maintains that, although “fast fashion” is profitable for the textile industry, it is unsustainable and very dangerous for the environment.

In contrast, it has been proposed “slow fashion”, a trend that implies thinking before buying and responds to the circular economy.

This model seeks share, rent, reuse, repair, renew, resell and give a second life to the garments that someone else has already used.

“Consumers can generate a very relevant positive impact by using garments twice as long as we do now, with this, according to UN data, we would avoid 25% of the CO2 emissions that the fashion industry emits”Orvananos said.

This year GoTrendier generated an ECO challenge that seeks to increase the participation of second-hand fashion consumers.

But it also seeks, through points for publication, purchase and sale, to reach 3 million of them to raise funds and adopt 200 trees from ProNatura, the conservation group environmental largest in Mexico. EFE

(With information from EFE)