The impact of textile production and waste on the environment (infographic)

5 Jan 2021 02:24 PM

Clothes, footwear and household textiles are responsible for water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and landfill. Find out more in our infographic.

Fast fashion – the constant provision of new styles at very low prices – has led to a big increase in the quantity of clothes produced and thrown away.

To tackle the impact on the environment, the EU wants to speed up the move towards a circular economy.

In March 2020, the European Commission adopted a new circular economy action plan, which includes an EU strategy for textiles, which aims to stimulate innovation and boost reuse within the sector. Parliament is set to vote on an own-initiative report on the circular economy action plan in early 2021.

Find out about the circular economy’s definition, its importance and benefits.

Water use

It takes a lot of water to produce textile, plus land to grow cotton and other fibres. It is estimated that the global textile and clothing industry used 79 billion cubic metres of water in 2015, while the needs of the EU's whole economy amounted to 266 billion cubic metres in 2017. To make a single cotton t-shirt, 2,700 litres of fresh water are required according to estimates, enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years.

Water pollution

Textile production is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global clean water pollution from dyeing and finishing products.

Washing synthetics releases an estimated 0.5 million tonnes of microfibres into the ocean a year.

Laundering synthetic clothes accounts for 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment. A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres that can end up in the food chain.

Click here for the full press release