Greenwashing

I am currently running a poll on greenwashing. Almost 80% of my connections do not know what it means.

As your green connection, I have been trying to live a sustainable life for a few years know.

I guess it started with the "local is lekker" movement. The idea was to support local suppliers. I ran my retail shop on this principle. I wanted to give local suppliers a platform to sell their goods.

This then spilled over to my personal life. I remember only wanting to buy tires

for my car that was manufactured locally.

Then I discovered the term re-cycle and up-cycle. I wrote articles about the difference. I hosted an exhibition for an assemblage artist that made lights out of old fans and washing machine drums etc. I made jewelry that ended up on the runway at Fashion Week.

I tried getting the municipality to put up recycle bins on my property. The ward Counceller advised against this.

I attended conferences for "Proudly South African".

I travelled all over South Africa to waste management sites and spoke to people about their needs and issues.

What did I learn? It is expensive. Reworking any object cost money. Being green in not a cheap option. Reconstituted plastic decking is more expensive than real wood. There are maintenance benefits, but it is not a cheaper option.

Not all products can be re-used. Due to the chemical compound and combinations of plastics, not all plastic can be re-cycled or up cycled. Products that are being re-used needs to be clean. Or cleaned. So just throwing a milk carton in a bin for recycling does nothing.

Sustainable became a buzz word. The problem is the average person has no idea what that means or implies. Large companies employ marketing specialist, and they tell the large companies to use the buzz words. Writing copy for fabulous campaigns to sell product. Products fly off the shelf.

Marketing is not new and way back in 1960 Westinghouse made the news for what was arguably the first case of Greenwashing. The term was coined by Jay Westerveld in 1986. I encourage you to google this and read the story.

I decided to devote this newsletter to Greenwashing after watching a tik tok (or some short form thing) on how a Fast Fashion brand re-uses fabrics. This touched a nerve and made me think of all the knowledge I gained over the years.

Let me share some statistics.

85% of textiles end up in landfill. The Fashion industry in responsible for 20% of global waste. Most fabrics cannot be recycled due to the microfibers used in the manufacturing process.

It takes 7600 liters of water to manufacture one pair of jeans. If you dig a bit, pardon the pun, you find they include the water given to the cotton plants in this sum. I do know that they use a lot of water to give garments a distressed look and this causes pollution of water sources in poor countries where the garments are made.

To make a new garment takes up to 2 years, from conception of the design by the designer. To sourcing the fabric, having the garment made, runway show to being sold on the shelf. Fast Fashion brands sell new items every day. How it that possible? They don't pay living wage. They use substandard fabrics and finishes, and they copy good design.

What can you do? You can do your research. Stop shopping at fast fashion brands every week. Research also shows that people wear only 20% of the clothes in their cupboard. Take care of your clothes. Clean and store it properly. If you don't like an item, give it away. Swop it for something you like with a friend.

I had a lot of words. Hope you learnt something.

www.ineeden.co.za

P.S. The picture is of accessories we made out of old bracelets, wire and rope and some beads. It was part of an exhibition to honor Iris Apfel. Mantsho by Palesa Mokubung used it later in a runway show. Support our local designers.