Page 1775 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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increasingly more common. Fast fashion has perpetuated an overwhelming sense of carelessness for sustainability. This is having a devastating impact on our environment.
To give you a bit of an idea about the intensity of these environmental impacts, I want to present you with some hard-hitting facts. The textiles industry is one of the top five polluting industries in the world. It can take between 10,000 and 15,000 litres of water to manufacture just one pair of jeans. In Australia we send approximately 85 per cent of the textiles we buy to landfill each year. This equates to about six tonnes of clothing every ten minutes.
A significant proportion of the textiles we import into Australia each year has been manufactured in developing countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These countries lack regulatory systems. Further, they put at risk their natural resources. This leads to the contamination of waterways due to the use of harmful pesticides and toxic chemicals.
The international expansion of fast fashion has created such a demand that the working conditions of textile workers are often compromised, which has resulted in the emergence of social injustices such as modern slavery. The rise of fast fashion is entirely exploitative, with the primary example being the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse near Savar, Bangladesh, where 1,134 textile workers died. It was exposed after the collapse that these workers were operating under conditions of modern slavery. Their deaths were completely preventable. It just goes to show the level of disregard for ethical considerations when it comes to supply chains meeting growing consumer demands.
I know that Canberrans care about our natural environment. They support initiatives designed to contain the impacts of climate change and social justice. I know this because just last month I stood among hundreds of Canberrans, young and old, at the school strikes for climate change.
I am confident that poor consumer habits are not a result of sheer disregard for the environment or human rights. I believe it comes down to a lack of awareness. As a local representative who cares about our environment, I want to do what I can to endorse better consumer behaviour here in the ACT. I want people to know about the increase in pollution, the exploitation of human rights and the draining of non-renewable natural resources associated with the fast fashion industry. I believe that if people were provided with the information I have just shared with you there would be greater support for the ethical and sustainable fashion movement.
There are so many ways we can improve. We can start with small changes, by investing in better quality garments, reducing the need to replace items of clothing regularly. We can support brands that have been ethically audited and meet the requirements for safe working conditions and a fair working wage. Another alternative is to buy second-hand items. Some great options include op shops or vintage clothing stores, even Facebook second-hand clothing forums. Instead of discarding unwanted clothing items in the rubbish, Zara and H&M offer donation boxes, with materials being repurposed to produce things like housing insulation.
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