Fashion victim: Australia's garment industry confronts its waste mountain
With more than 700 million used garments sent to landfill each year, the fashion industry has a big sustainability problem to solve. If it fails, the government has promised to regulate it into action.
The fashion industry has a waste problem. With the average consumer buying 56 new items of clothing a year and discarding old ones, more than 200,000 tonnes of used garments are being sent to landfill.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek last year put the industry on notice to find circular solutions to improve design, promote reuse, enable recycling and minimise waste. Under the auspices of the Australian Fashion Council, the industry launched the Seamless product stewardship programme.
This month, Seamless was established as a separate organisation in its own right, helmed by former Infrastructure Sustainability Council chief executive Ainsley Simpson.
Plibersek has given the industry until 30 June this year to deliver a voluntary scheme, where participants will contribute 4 cents per garment to a fund which will be used to establish used garment collection programs and build recycling infrastructure.
