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The Excerpt

SPECIAL | The clothing we discard is a problem. How do we fix that?

The Excerpt

USA TODAY

Daily News, News

4.11.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2024

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Globally, we throw out about 92 million tons of clothing each year according to an analysis of data by The Ellen MacCarther Foundation. That discarded clothing ends up either in landfills or is burnt, both of which have undesirable environmental impacts. While many clothing materials are biodegradable in their original form, most clothing today is made up of a blend of different fibers, and once blended, it’s hard to break down. What’s the solution here? Jules Lennon, fashion lead with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, joins The Excerpt to discuss innovations and best practices in the way we address textile waste.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:05.0

Join Wunderry Plus in the Wundery app.

0:08.0

Hello and

0:15.0

this is a special episode of the excerpt.

0:17.0

And this is a special episode of the excerpt. Fashion comes and goes and goes, so what happens to the clothes you no longer want because

0:29.6

they're out of style?

0:31.0

Globally, we throw out about 92 million tons of clothing each year according to an

0:35.2

analysis of data by the Ella MacArthur Foundation. That discarded clothing ends up either

0:40.5

in landfills or is burnt, both of which have undesirable environmental impacts.

0:46.2

While many clothing materials are biodegradable in their original form, most clothing today

0:51.5

is made up of a blend of different fibers and once blended it's hard to break down.

0:56.7

What's the solution here?

0:58.7

Here to discuss innovations and best practices in the way we address the issues surrounding textile waste is Jules

1:05.4

Linen Fashion Lead with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Thanks for being on the

1:09.5

excerpt Jules. Great to see you. Thank you. First I want to give our audience a good sense of the scope of the issue here.

1:16.0

We don't look at landfills or see the incinerators at work.

1:20.0

Why are these two ways of disposing of unwanted clothing so problematic?

1:26.0

Today, pretty much the entire global economy still operates under the same model.

1:32.4

We take resources from the ground to make products and materials

1:36.1

that are wanted or needed and then after an incredibly short amount of time we get rid of them. So it's a take make waste linear economy and as a result every year the fashion industry is actually missing out on hundreds of billions of dollars of valuable materials and

1:54.7

contributing significantly to waste and pollution. In fact, the equivalent of

1:59.7

one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every single second.

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