A plastic bottle takes approximately 450 years to break down [1], almost 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute [2], the fashion industry desperately needs to become “greener”. Bingo! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the new fashion bluff: downcycle of plastic bottles into clothes.
Plastic pollution and waste are one of the fashion industry’s most alarming problems. Ironically, fashion brands are still largely ignoring them and resorting to greenwashing tactics rather than moving to truly circular solutions, meaning: durable, reusable, repairable and recyclable.
One of these tactics is switching to recycled fibers, particularly downcycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into clothes. Brands like H&M, Zara, Primark, Nike and Patagonia (among many others) are making this switch while making consumers believe that their purchases are impact-free.
While recycling seems a step in the right direction, sadly it’s not what it looks like…
Plastic: Fashion’s Fuel
Because of its durability and versatility, plastic has become indispensable to the fashion industry. So much so that about 69% of clothes are made up of synthetic fibers, being polyester the most common. Unfortunately, cheap synthetic fibers make low-quality clothing end up as waste and perpetuate the fashion industry’s dependence on fossil fuels.
So, how are brands planning to tackle this problem? Despite being a smokescreen, a growing number of brands are using ‘recycled’ polyester (made from PET bottles) as their main plan to curb the impacts of fossil fashion and as proof of their “greenness”. Of course, this is wisely complemented with advertising campaigns that overexaggerate the benefits of the practice making consumers proudly wear garments made from waste.
The industry’s lack of attention to the plastic and waste crisis is so great that giants such as Patagonia, a brand that has built its reputation on sustainability, don’t publicly disclose any meaningful information about its use of synthetics or plans to eliminate them.[3]
Why Isn’t Recycled PET The Answer?
It’s evident that recycled polyester is a more sustainable choice than its virgin counterpart. According to a study released by PET Recycling Team GmbH, it results in 79% lower carbon dioxide emissions.[4] Nevertheless, if we dig a little deeper, we find that not all that glitters is gold. There is a tendency to equate “recycled” with “sustainable”, but in this case, turning plastic bottles into apparel is not the solution. Here are some reasons why
1. A One-Way Ticket To Landfills
Downcycling bottles into clothes is a very simplistic way out that sentences to “death” that piece of plastic. Once a bottle is made into clothing, the material can no longer be recycled, which means it must be thrown away. Making clothes from bottles is a one-way ticket to landfills, incineration or dumping in nature.[5]
2. Not Truly Circular
Converting bottles into clothing sounds, to say the least, attractive and innovative and gives consumers the illusion that waste bottles are being put to good use. Yet, what brands are silent about is that these plastic bottles could be part of a circular system where they could made into new bottles. The demand for virgin plastic could be greatly reduced if plastic bottles were collected, refilled or recycled multiple times.[6] This might not be super avant-garde, but wouldn’t it make more sense to turn bottles into new bottles and clothes into new clothes? Brands are not reporting a high level of fiber-to-fiber recycling targets, nor a clear goal to move towards this type of recycling. Neither are brands making necessary investments to ensure a future in which clothes can be recycled back to clothes, hindering a move to a truly circular economy.[7]
3. What About Fashion’s Other Problems?
Recycled polyester is quite a shortsighted solution since it does nothing to solve other industry’s problems, such as microplastic pollution. Microplastics are minuscule pieces of plastic that are the remnant of larger debris that end up in the air, ocean and our bodies (learn more about microplastics in fashion here). Sadly, very few brands are taking concrete actions to stop the immediate release of microfibers from their clothes. So instead of reducing reliance on synthetic fibers, most brands choose to greenwash recycled synthetic as one of the solutions.[8]
4. Just A Drop In The Ocean
We have lost sight of the real problem, meaning the extreme and dangerous reliance of the fashion industry on virgin synthetics. Production of synthetic fibers has grown exponentially over the last years and shows no sign of slowing. Brands using recycled plastics are just a drop in the ocean.[9] Claiming that a garment is made from ocean plastic or recycled fishing does very little to curtail the crux of the matter and just focuses on the aftermath of the plastic-pollution problem. What we need is to focus on the source.
5. Greenwashing
Greenwashing, greenwashing and more greenwashing! Making fashion from plastic bottles is just another greenwashing tactic to encourage people to buy more. “Brands are clinging to recycled bottles for clothes to distract consumers from their inherently unsustainable reliance on fossil fuels for fiber…. If fashion brands are serious about reducing their environmental impact, they should stop the charade of downcycling plastic bottles into clothes and instead focus on cutting their addiction to fossil fuels and curbing overproduction.”[10] So brands, listen up! Stop with the buzz and just embrace true circular solutions that change your business model.
Final thoughts: Focus!
Undoubtedly, using recycled rather than virgin plastic is a good thing. What is not good is to believe, and make consumers believe, that this, by itself, will save the industry’s environmental problems.
Informed and conscious consumers don’t make mistakes, so if brands only tell them half the story (the half that is convenient for them), then using recycled bottles for apparel is an ecologically “destructive” approach.[11] Using recycled synthetics diverts consumers from the more urgent and serious issue: the fashion industry’s dependency on fossil fuels.
Hopefully the next time you see one of these big companies advertising garments made from plastic bottles, you won’t fall for it. Do your research and see if, besides this practice, they are working on making a real change in their business model. Just stay focused!
Have you ever bought a garment made from recycled plastic? Which one? What do you think brands should do to transform the fashion industry? Let me know in the comments below!
