WATCH OUT FAST FASHION, ANGER IS COMING!
Fast Fashion has become a convenient solution for a society constantly on a search for new trends and it has become evident that this convenience has been prioritised over environmental protection. This post explores Shein’s recent sustainability initiatives and how effective they can really be, given the vast quantities of clothing that are being produced in polluting processes.
Governments are starting to react and regulate water pollution, and companies should act accordingly to avoid repercussions.
The textile industry stands as the third biggest manufacturing industry in the world. According to National Institute of Standards and Technology, over 100 billion items of clothing are produced every year, while over 50 billion garments are discarded within 12 months of use. This over-consumption takes a toll on the environment, through the polluting manufacturing processes that fast fashion companies use. Some brands have been pursuing green initiatives to show they are environmentally conscious, but overall little action is taken to limit the negative impacts on the developing world, where many production facilities are based, and barely scratch the surface of the problem.
Shein, one of the most prolific fast fashion brands, recently announced that it would donate $15 million to the non-profit The OR Foundation at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, with the aim of helping textile waste workers in Ghana. The country is struggling with vast amounts of discarded clothing being dumped, with vulnerable workers suffering poor conditions managing the waster. Some have labelled this as greenwashing, given Shein’s responsibility for a large amount of wasted clothing, through overproduction. In addition to support for managing clothing at the end of its life in landfills, Shein should be paying attention to the impact that production has on the local area and communities, through wastewater pollution.
Government action
Shein’s factories are primarily in Guangzhou, China, but the company has yet to provide any solution to its contribution to water pollution in China. In 2015, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection described 28% of Chinese rivers as “unfit for human contact”, highlighting the consequences the textile industry has had on the country. Due to this, the government has been trying to tackle this issue and has imposed penalty tariffs, fines and even detention on some executives of textile companies.
Similarly to China, Bangladesh and India are also considered large textile exporters. Bangladesh has a huge textile industry, with clothing being 83% of the country’s total exports. Alongside unsafe working practices, as seen with the Rana Plaza tragedy in which five garment factories collapsed, killing at least 1,132, the government also has serious water pollution issues. Measures have been taken to prevent both unethical working conditions and water pollution, including fines, penalties, and the introduction of new environmental laws. India has also faced an issue with water pollution, with authorities having to shut down the company for to stop further textile dyeing.
Water Pollution as a Global Priority
Water pollution represents a massive issue worldwide, especially in the textile industry, with up to 842,000 people being killed by unsafe water worldwide every year. According to the World Bank, the planet is facing a water pollution crisis, which not only harms economies and decreases GDP growth by one-third but also shortens people’s lives. Currently, the textile industry uses 20% of the world’s fresh water, and 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from textile manufacturing. Due to the sheer and continuous increase in textile production in Bangladesh, 1,500 billion litres of water are used annually in garment factories, and the pollution has significantly increased demands on water.
Companies such as Shein need to think about sustainable manufacturing to limit the water pollution caused by its over-production, or risk anger from consumers and governments. Government action will be one incentive to make a change in this area but they will also need a workable solution ready to be implemented in existing factories.
Solution
The core idea behind Waste2Fresh is to provide sustainable solutions to textile manufacturing industrial processes and prevent further water resource scarcity and pollution. Adopting the Waste2Fresh closed-loop process would eliminate the dumping of contaminated water, as all water used would be recycled within factories. The closed loop ensures that facilities can significantly reduce the amount of water they need to use. The project in in the pilot stage but may one day be used to transform large manufacturing facilities into sustainable operations with little impact on the environment. Harnessing new technologies to achieve meaningful change is a mindset that is taking hold across the world. Fast Fashion is most often criticised for low working standards and poor safety records, but the water pollution it causes should not be overlooked. As the adverse effects are becoming more and more visible, now is the right time to adopt a fresh approach to sustainable manufacturing, or incur the wrath of governments and consumers shocked at the environmental damage.