In March 2020, when the world stood still for a moment, many people foretold the end of an era.
We were hoping that Planet would breathe a bit, consumerism would slow down a bit, and we would finally see what really matters in life.
It turns out that the pandemic in some industries has brought about a significant increase in sales. Recent years have also seen the development of the "fast fashion" trend. We have a huge overproduction of clothes. Every year, the clothing industry produces 100 billion pieces of clothes, shoes and accessories for 8 billion people. The clothing circulates through Europe, Asia, the US, and eventually lands at the port of Iquique in the Alto Hospicio free zone in northern Chile. Every year ... 59 thousand tons of clothes are sent there!
Tons of clothes have been reaching Chile for many years. In the Atacama Desert there are those that are no longer suitable for sale. They are not accepted in municipal landfills, so they end up in the wild expanses of the desert. They are synthetic clothes that are not biodegradable and contain chemicals. Their distribution would take min. 200 years, and their toxic impact on the environment is comparable to the decomposition of tires or plastic. The fact that there are places like the Atacama Desert is nothing new, but only after seeing these pictures, we are able to visualize what it really looks like. Clothing brands and companies involved in the production of clothes easily managed to convince us that when buying clothes, we buy a better mood, more attractive appearance and status. In the last 20 years, sales of clothes have almost doubled worldwide. It is obvious that clothing production has also doubled. Not everything is bought, some clothes are actually produced only to end up in landfills. Currently, the clothing industry is responsible for 20 percent. of total water consumption in the world and contributes to the formation of 8 percent. greenhouse gases. According to a 2019 UN report, several tons of clothing are thrown away or burned in the world every second, releasing toxic substances into the environment. If we do not change our consumption habits, we will buy even more clothes, mainly synthetic ones. Our planet cannot cope with such an overproduction and such enormous amounts of rubbish. Each individual action for the benefit of the environment is a great step. We need systemic changes to make big changes and end such procedures, but it's always worth starting with yourself.
We have lived to see the times when people walk in the garbage dump.