Many聽consumers 补谤别听unaw补谤别听that a large chunk of their wardrobe is essentially plastic. More than聽60% of the global fiber聽 market is polyester, a carbon-intensive petroleum product which has been refined to the point of doing almost anything we ask of it. It can look like silk, cotton, or soft faux fur, or can be combined with natural materials to improve their performance and lower cost.
But consumers聽补谤别听very aware that the ocean is filling up with plastic. By聽one estimate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 unless we course correct.聽Most of the plastic entering the ocean (86%) comes from Asia, where use of plastic disposables is skyrocketing and collection and recycling infrastructure has yet to be built.聽Asia is also where聽86% of polyester textiles are manufactured.
An聽obvious solution? Source the raw material for polyester manufacturing right from Asia鈥檚 plastic crisis.
Turns out, that’s聽exactly what fashion companies are doing.
Take the European brand C&A. Polyester聽accounts for 21% of the material it uses in its clothing, so the company has set a聽goal of replacing virgin polyester made from petroleum with polyester made from recycled water bottles. C&A China is leading the way, selling 30,000 denim garments in 2016 made with Global Recycled Standard (GRS)-certified polyester.
In Delhi, the company聽Conserve India shows the benefit of sourcing materials where you manufacture.聽The ethical fashion manufacturer pays waste聽pickers for all manner of plastic聽waste and has so far transformed聽12,000 tonnes of waste into belts and wallets that are sold in fair trade boutiques all over the world. 鈥淲e use everything that聽comes into the聽waste stream,” says the company’s聽founder聽Anita Ahuja,聽an Ashoka Fellow.聽鈥淭ire tubes,聽seat belts, fire hoses, cement bags, rice bags, packaging material from bread. For each material we have a different way to process it and a聽design lab where we experiment, like what kind of shapes and structure the product should have.鈥� Waste-pickers supply 80% of the company鈥檚 raw recyclable material.聽Ahuja plans to release the聽process her company uses to recycle the plastic聽waste, so that other companies can use it for bigger environmental impact.
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