A mountain of unsold clothing from fast fashion retailers is piling up in the Chilean desert

[Judi Lynn]

Cheryl Teh 8 hours ago

Heaps of unworn clothes are being discarded in the Chilean desert, adding to a swiftly swelling graveyard of fast fashion lines past.

. . .

The AFP found that around 59,000 tons of clothing end up at the port in Chile every year. Of that amount, 39,000 tons are moved into landfills in the desert. Alex Carreno, a former employee at the Iquique port's import section, told the AFP the clothing "arrives from all over the world." Carreno added that most of the clothes are later disposed of when the shipments can't be re-sold across Latin America.

. . .

"The problem is that the clothing is not biodegradable and has chemical products, so it is not accepted in the municipal landfills," said Franklin Zepeda, founder of EcoFibra, a company that is trying to make use of the discarded clothing by making insulation panels out of them.

For one, the fashion industry accounts for 8 to 10% of the world's carbon emissions, per the UN. In 2018, the fashion industry was also found to consume more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined. Researchers estimate that the equivalent of a garbage truck of clothes is burned and sent to a landfill every second.

More:
https://www.insider.com/discarded-fast-fashion-clothes-chile-desert-2021-11

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Chile’s desert dumping ground for fast fashion leftovers

Chile’s Atacama, the driest desert in the world, is increasingly suffering from pollution caused by fast fashion.



Used clothes discarded in the Atacama Desert, in Alto Hospicio, Iquique, Chile. [Martin Bernetti/AFP]
Published On 8 Nov 2021
A mountain of discarded clothing, including Christmas sweaters and ski boots, cuts a strange sight in Chile’s Atacama, the driest desert in the world, which is increasingly suffering from pollution created by fast fashion.

The social effect of rampant consumerism in the clothing industry – such as child labour in factories or derisory wages – is well-known, but the disastrous effect on the environment is less publicised.

Chile has long been a hub of second-hand and unsold clothing, made in China or Bangladesh and passing through Europe, Asia or the United States before arriving in Chile, where it is resold around Latin America.

Some 59,000 tonnes of clothing arrive each year at the Iquique port in the Alto Hospicio free zone in northern Chile.

Clothing merchants from the capital Santiago, 1,800km (1,100 miles) to the south, buy some, while much is smuggled out to other Latin American countries. But at least 39,000 tonnes that cannot be sold end up in rubbish dumps in the desert.

. . .



More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2021/11/8/chiles-desert-dumping-ground-for-fast-fashion-leftovers

[underpants]

1. Wow. I had no idea.

Amazing.

[Sherman A1]

5. I was aware of this being an issue on the African

Continent, but not South America.

[underpants]

11. Buffalo Bills Super Bowl champions gear

I remember reading back in the 90’s about how apparel for both teams in the Super Bowl was produced to be in the stores the next day. This was before on line shopping. The gear for the losing team was donated to an international organization that gave them out to refugees and others needing help. There was a picture of kids in I think the former Yugoslavia wearing Bills super bowl champion t-shirts. The Bills never won the big game.

[Liberty Belle]

2. Why don't they find a way to give clothes away to the homeless, refugees and the poor?

Seems some nonprofit could pull this together perhaps.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Maybe, but how many poor people wear hot pants and zebra leggings?

[Merlot]

8. There are to many clothes being produced. They can't give it all away,

that's why it's in the desert.

[underpants]

12. See post #11

I don’t know if this is still done.

[Duppers]

14. My 1st thought too. nt

[Moostache]

4. Have to wonder about the energy used to make and then bury this stuff...

Its not only fashion industry waste but all of the entire capitalist system that allows these hidden costs to go unrecovered from the manufacturers and big name brand multi-, multi-millionaire names like Lauren, Hilfiger, YSL, Chanel and many others that simply walk away from the extravagant "externalizations" that are passed onto the public, the environment, the poor and increasingly the remaining "empty places" on a map where things can be shipped to or sent away from the public eye.

There are items in these landfills that people paid thousands of dollars for within the last 2-3 years...I have a T-shirt that is about to be converted to rags...I bought it in 2003 when my now 18-year old son was born. Somewhere between myself and the fashion world lies sanity and good stewardship of the environment...I'm pretty sure the fulcrum is closer to me.

[Merlot]

7. "fast fasion" was created by Zara, it transformed retailing

and forced other retailers to catch up.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Opinion: As a fast fashion graveyard piles up in Chile, it's time to assess our mass consumerism

Heaps of leftover fast fashion stretch across the desert.

Fast fashion is one of the globe's top polluters. While child labour and human rights violations related to clothing factories are well known, the environmental damage caused is rarely publicised.

Images have been released that show endless mounds of clothes discarded across the Atacama desert in Chile, an odd sight in the world's driest desert and a direct result of mass consumerism in the fashion industry.

Clothes made in Bangladesh and China typically make their way to US and Europe and, when they aren't purchased, they are brought to Chile's Iquique port to be sold to other Latin-American countries. But not all are sold, and roughly 39,000 tons end up dumped in the desert every year.

According to a 2019 UN report, clothing production has doubled in the past twenty years, and the industry is "responsible for 20% of total water waste on a global level". A single pair of jeans requires 7,500 litres of water to make.

More:
https://www.her.ie/life/opinion-fast-fashion-graveyard-piles-chile-time-assess-mass-consumerism-539126


More:
https://www.her.ie/life/opinion-fast-fashion-graveyard-piles-chile-time-assess-mass-consumerism-539126

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Especially since we're all down to wearing pajamas and sweatsuits.

[underpants]

13. Numbers vary but yeah it takes a lot of water to make jeans

Computer chips too. From a fire in one of the three big plants in Taiwan to a drought there cutting down water usage - those are big reasons for the chip shortage.

About 10 gallons per chip
https://news.stanford.edu/pr/96/960605chipsenvir.html

[Demovictory9]

9. same in Africa