Including Adidas… international fashion ends up being burned and the environment is the most affected – CNN Economic

Disney, Adidas, GAP, and Reebok… Did you know that the clothing waste of these famous brands ends up being burned in factories and brick kilns in Cambodia? High energy costs have prompted factories to burn global fashion waste as an alternative to traditional fuel, which has raised concerns about the environment and the health of citizens.

There are currently at least seven factories that burn the waste of famous international clothing companies in order to save fuel costs, which usually contain cloth, plastic, rubber and other industrial materials, according to a report reported by Reuters.

Most of the brands included in the report began an investigation into the aforementioned incident after the report spread, in an attempt to control the use of fashion waste in Cambodian factories.

A separate report in 2018 by British academics at the University of London revealed that clothing remains usually contain toxic chemicals such as chlorine bleach, formaldehyde and ammonia, as well as heavy metals used in dyeing and printing.

In Cambodia, many workers in factories that burn clothing waste report that this work causes them headaches, nosebleeds, and respiratory problems, making the health and environmental risks of these practices outweigh the benefits that factories may achieve from saving fuel costs.

The repercussions of burning clothing factory waste on the environment and health

Burning waste clothing may release toxic substances to humans if combustion conditions are not managed properly, and the ash may also contain high levels of pollutants, according to a 2020 United Nations Development Program study reviewed by Reuters.

In general, the fashion sector’s waste is considered one of the most environmental pollutants, as about 100 billion pieces of clothing are produced around the world annually, 92 million tons of which go to landfills, while many international fashion houses resort to disposing of unsold clothes by burning them. As the least expensive way to get rid of them, according to a report reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation “BBC”.

Earlier this year, European Union countries unanimously agreed to ban the disposal of unsold clothing by environmentally unfriendly means and instead focus on safer means such as recycling.

The total amount of recyclable industrial textile waste is estimated at about nine million tons globally annually, raising concerns that textile burning is becoming a global trend.