Take a minute and think of a landfill, a huge field
full of the things we no long user. When you imagine this what do you think of?
You might possibly think of old food, electronics, plastic bags, and other
types of packaging? What you might not think of when you think of the landfill
is old clothes and other textiles. The United States discards an average of 21
billion pounds of textile waste per year. The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) predicts that number will increase by 40% in the next 10 years bringing
it to 35.4 billion pounds/year (Council For Textile Recycling). This is a problem because there are large sums
of natural resources being wasted; making something people just throw away.
Another problem is that, “61 percent of these textiles are made of synthetics
fibers” and that these synthetic fibers leach chemicals into surrounding water
sources as well as peoples skin (World Apparel Fiber Consumption). Knowing the
amount of textile wasted in the United States alone, leads to an important
question, “Why aren’t more fabrics made of sustainable fibers?” The reason
being that organic fibers break down more quickly, they cost more to produce
than synthetic fibers, and the demand for natural fibers isn’t as high.
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Sources:
"Council
for Textile Recycling." Council for Textile Recycling. N.p., n.d. Web. 28
Sept. 2016.
"World Apparel Fiber Consumption." ICAS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12
Oct. 2016.
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