BRUSSELS — Europeans’ soaring appetite for fast fashion — accelerated by the ease of online marketplaces — is putting immense pressure on the environment, according to a report from the EU’s top environmental watchdog.
New data from the European Environment Agency shows that EU citizens are buying more textile products through online shopping than ever before, and especially from brands that sell cheaper products in large volumes, otherwise known as fast fashion.
The report comes as EU institutions are finalizing new rules for textile waste management across Europe, which will make fashion brands pay a fee for the processing of their products once they become waste, in an attempt to encourage them to sell more sustainable and longer-lasting items.
In 2022, EU citizens bought about 19 kilograms of new clothes, shoes and other household fabrics each — up from 17 kilograms in 2019 — yet throwing out as much as 16 kilograms of clothes annually.
This created about 7 million metric tons of textile waste across the bloc: Enough to fill a large suitcase per person each year.
The report states that 85 percent of these discarded clothes aren’t reused or recycled, and often end up getting burnt or landfilled. As of January, EU countries are supposed to have separate collection systems in place for textile waste to prevent this from happening.
By 2030, the EU wants all textile products that are placed on the EU market to be durable, repairable and recyclable.
Online marketplaces and social media have “been instrumental in the growth of fast fashion in recent years,” the EEA’s report notes, allowing retailers “to constantly offer consumers new styles at exceedingly low prices.”
Without the possibility of trying before purchasing, people are more likely to buy several sizes of the same items and opting to return, resell, or even throw out the products that don’t fit. But on average, up to 44 percent of returns never reach a new customer and get destroyed.
Out of all the different types of products that European households consume — like food, gas and electricity, or health products — garments and footwear are the fifth most resource-intensive category.
According to the report, 234 million metric tons of raw materials, like fuel and cotton, were used to produce all the textile consumed by EU households. That’s a lot less than in 2010, however, which suggests that fewer resources are needed per item of clothing.
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