The situation in Singapore appears to be part of a global problem. In the US, only about 16% of textile waste was recycled in 2014, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency. In the UK, it is 14%, according to a report published last year by the Department of Food, Environment and Rural Affairs, citing 2011 figures.
In this column, we look into coping mechanisms that have been adopted to face the issue.
Worldwide, solutions are generally targetted at two agendas. Firstly, curtailment; limiting consumption behaviours and making people use less than usual. To begin with, companies must produce less stuff. A small number of overseas companies have already started to do so. Patagonia’s Worn Wear program offers a service to fix old clothes rather than only sell new ones. Companies like Mud Jeans, Rent the Runway and Gwynnie Bee are experimenting with rental models. Some companies, such as Zady’s, are calling for a return to “slow fashion,” promoting it as a key component to their business model. In this light, the public is receptive because of the advantages they confer. For example, savings, the intrinsic value of frugality and social approval.
Alternatively, companies are working to improve their resource efficiency. H&M and Zara, both purveyors of fast fashion, joined 33 other fashion companies in a pledge to increase their clothing recycling by 2020 and are collecting and recycling used clothing at many of their stores so each piece of textile can be used more than one time. (To know more, enter this link: https://www.copenhagenfashionsummit.com/commitment/) Reformation, a smaller Los Angeles-based clothing brand that is gaining popularity, claims that it produces its clothing with far less water and emissions than typical clothing companies, and even publishes the spared water and emissions quantities on each product webpage.
Will locals pick up? What’s the Singaporean response?