23 Facts About Fashion Waste

Facts about fashion waste statistics

FACTS AND DATA

GW authors

9/30/20244 min read

Fashion Waste Facts and Statistics

Fashion or clothes in general is very popular and can reflect a person’s identity, and there is a trend of overconsumption of textile, which has lead to negative environmental impacts for the ecosystems.

The production of clothes and consumption levels has grown over the past few decades, which has been because of availability, affordability, demand, and linear economy, and has lead to high levels of waste.

We generate 92 million tonnes of textile waste. By 2030 it’s estimated that we’ll generate 134 million tonnes of textile waste on a global scale, unless something happens and there is a big change.

The cause of clothing waste

A growing demand for fast fashion, overproduction, low costs, encourages a linear economy where the majority of clothes are not recycled, and are thrown away. Buying cheap low quality clothes is accessible to anyone who has internet, and most people without and it becomes easy to make a purchase, then trying it for a few times and then throwing it out afterwards. In some instances, it’s easier to replace than repair which makes waste grow even larger

Fashion waste statistics

The fashion industry produces a lot of it. Some fashion waste is unavoidable while others could be better managed to minimize waste in the whole sector.


Here are some facts about fashion waste statistics:

  • The worldwide fashion industry accounts for 10% of all GHG emissions

  • 100 billion new garments are generated across the globe annually

  • Roughly 20% of worldwide industrial wastewater pollution stems from the fashion industry

  • The UN environment programme estimates that people nowadays wear clothes half as long and purchase 60 % more than in the previous decades

  • 57% of clothes thrown away is ending in landfills

  • To make one cotton shirt it takes around 2700 liters of water

  • One fourth of all clothes is incinerated

  • Polyester and acrylic are responsible for more than 60% of global purchases

  • Synthetic fibers take 80 to 800 times longer to decompose than natural fibers such as cotton


Countries that produce the most fashion waste

The nations that produce the most fashion waste is China and the USA. The top countries can be seen in the following list:

  1. China: 20 mio tonnes

  2. Usa: 17 mio tonnes

  3. India: 7.8 mio tonnes

  4. Italy: 465.925 tonnes

  5. Germany: 391.752 tonnes

  6. France: 210.001 tonnes

  7. UK: 206.456 tonnes

Fast fashion waste statistics

The fashion waste industry focuses on making consumers buy more even if they dont have the need for it.

The fast fashion waste statistics emphasis the impact it has on our planet and behaviour:

  • Fast fashion produces 50% more items today compared to the year 2000

  • An average american does throw out 37 kg of clothes annually

  • In the last 15 years, clothes before getting discarded has fallen by 36%

  • Extending clothing life by nine months would reduce water, carbon, and waste footprints by 20 to 30%.

  • In addition it would also save 5 bio points in resources in supply, launder, dispose of clothes.


Textile waste facts

Textile waste covers more than just clothes, its also bedding, towels, and curtains. The textile industry is responsible for the third largest source of water pollution and land use in the world. Manufacturing, using, and disposing of many textiles produces high volumes of waste globally.

Here are some facts about textile waste:

  • Roughly 5 % of landfill space is taken up by textile waste

  • Textile production emits 2 billion tonnes of GHG in the atmosphere

  • Generating textile produces 42 million tons of plastic waste annually

  • 10 % of microplastics enter the ocean annually

  • To manufacture garments there is 15% of fabric that is wasted

  • Less than 13% of textile waste is recycled in the EU

  • 72% of bedding ends in landfills

  • Cotton takes 3 months to decompose, while linen takes a few weeks, and silk takes to 12 - 24 months to decompose

  • Synthetic textile waste takes a lot longer to decompose, polyester can take 20 to 200 years to break down, nylon 30 to 40 years, and rubber takes 50 to 80 years.



Clothing waste facts

Fast fashion leads to higher volumes of textile waste across the globe

  • Around 25% of clothing waste is incinerated globally

  • 8% of old clothes are reused and only 10% is recycled globally

  • It can take more than 200 years for clothing to decompose in landfills

  • Plastic is contained in more than 60% of new clothes

  • The lifespan of clothes is just over three years

  • An average clothing item should last between 100 and 200 wears, even though most is thrown out before then

  • In America, the average person throws away 30 kg of clothing annually

  • Less than 1% of clothing waste is recycled into new clothes


Initiatives to produce digital passports for sustainable fashion


Sustainable fashion brands use digital product passports (DPPs) to handle clothing waste. There are labels and scannable QR codes that have information about the item’s materials, the production journey, carbon footprint etc. This will help consumers to make sustainable choice

The usage of DPPs is becoming more widespread in the fashion industry to drive sustainable purchases and practices.

Summary

Fashion waste is too large of a problem for the environment and is continuing because of the linear economy which is the same as the throwaway culture. The industry must adopt a different approach that tackles the problem of impacting the environment negatively. Moreover, there is money that can be saved when the approach is more sustainable. Manufacturers must be held accountable, as well as firms in general, which is possible through laws and policymaking. Consumers play a role in this as well, and want to buy more sustainable clothes if they knew where to buy them. Nowadays, there is also option for scanning clothes with DPPs which can detect whether or not the fabrics are made from synthetics or from natural fibers such as organic cotton etc.

Sources:
Fashion Waste Statistics & Facts | Textile & Clothing Waste Facts (businesswaste.co.uk)