Fatal Fast-Fashion and Woven Waste Woes: Why Textile Waste Matters

Chirantan Prahlad Hegde

‘Roti, Kapda, Makaan’, the phrase is perhaps the purest expression of basic human needs in India. The economic rise of the country has necessitated the cultivation of ever-increasing amounts of food and the building of countless homes, to feed and house the growing population. The environmental impacts of food and housing too, are well documented, but what about the clothes on your back and in your cupboards???

The textile industry in India contributes 2% to the country’s GDP and provides direct employment to 45 million people in the country.1 The value of industry as well as its industrial output are both slated to grow with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.1% from 2024 to 2030 according to the State of Fashion Report2. With the average article of clothing estimated to be worn only 7 times in its life-cycle before being discarded3,? the ‘fast fashion’ brands (such as SHEIN) are responding to the ‘Buy-Wear-Dispose’ model of consumption by churning out high volumes to meet the demand while keeping the retail prices down. The usage practices around this established fast-fashion craze is causing the levels of textile waste to rise, especially for non-biodegradable materials like Nylon and Polyester, the washing of which releases roughly 0.5 million tonnes of fibrous microplastics into water systems on an annual basis, making it to the rivers, lakes and finally to the water supplied to our homes for consumption purposes.4 As high as 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2e emissions result from this. At the same time, the energy consumed annually by the industry is estimated at 2,176 million Giga-Joule equivalents. This equates to 604,553 million kWh, which is the same as 58 million petrol cars being driven for a year or 50 million homes' using electricity for one year.??

An assessment made using the subjective benchmarking tool from the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) shows that if the market size of the Indian textile industry grows at a 10% CAGR to reach $350 Bn (from $165 Bn in 2021-2022) by 2030 (BAU) scenario, as projected by NITI Aayog and Invest India, an estimated 94,335 billion litres of water will be consumed annually. This will be enough to fill over 37 million Olympic sized swimming pools or to meet the average household water needs for the entire population of India for an entire year. Additionally, the industry will generate 162,504 kilotons of CO2e GHG emissions annually,? equivalent to the emissions produced by 36 million petrol cars being driven for a year, or 31 million homes' electricity use for one year. It would take 2.6 billion trees grown from seedlings over the period of 10 years to sequester this amount of CO2.?

If the textile waste problem in India is allowed to grow unchecked, the environmental impact (in terms of the water, energy, and carbon emissions) will create a much larger problem with far-reaching consequences. As things stand, production techniques are resource intensive, be it energy, water or the chemicals used. The quest for cheaper materials has brought us to the stage where millions of tonnes of clothes rot away in a variety of conditions in landfills around the world as millions of tonnes of microplastics contaminate the water.?

The only way we can address the ever-growing issue of textile waste of all types is by adopting and practicing Circular Economy (CE) principles at various levels. An individual can contribute by treating clothes with care to extend the number of times a clothing article could be worn, and discarding it off properly when the time comes. Businesses can contribute by taking on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and investing in eco-friendly processes. Though regular water and energy audits may not reduce the issue of textile waste, businesses could invest into these to reduce the per capita environmental cost of manufacturing a piece of cloth – thus, reducing the environmental/carbon footprint right at the processing stage. The Government at Central and State levels can further mainstream it through policy integrations that promote strict segregation and handling of different types of waste, legal incentives for recycling and investment in recycling technologies.??

It is high time we see that the proverbial ‘emperor’ in fact has no clothes, and not only advocates for delineation and proper standards to handle textile waste, but also to actively build a culture around recycling, reusing and reducing.?

For all the cloth in the world, the truth remains naked, if left unaddressed the textile waste problem will have devastating impact on the planet for generations to come.?

Disclaimer: This blog is based on the DA's report on the textile industry in India.?? As part of Development Alternatives’ (DA) commitment to promoting Resource Efficiency (RE) and the Circular Economy (CE), a joint venture between DA and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), also known as the German Institute for International Collaboration, was undertaken. to author another report intended to build on the learnings from GIZ’s previous baseline report titled ‘Approaches for Circular Textile and Apparel Industry in India’. The new report titled ‘Climate and Resource Impacts of Textile and Apparel Waste in India’ aimed to expand on the previous report by enumerating the environmental impact of textile production across its value chain, as well as expand on waste typology, existing textile hubs, and on government and non-government-driven initiatives to bolster the sustainability of the industry.?

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