PLANET
PLANET
The planet pillar encourages responsible consideration of consumption within the fashion industry, whilst recognising the issues within the industry itself. The UN defines sustainability as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”, meaning, as a generation, thought is needed for how succeeding generations quality of life will be, due to consumers actions at present day.
Figure 1: Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits (European Parliament, 2023)
Circular economy attempts to make use of materials for as long as they can possibly be used, through recycling and repairing. In terms of the fashion market, this means keeping the idea of durability at the forefront of every action when considering materials and resources to use within the industry. The idea of “ethically sound” (Moore, 2015) and sustainable daily consumption of clothing clashes with the rapidly growing fast fashion industry, which has made a detrimental impact on the world. Conde Nast states the importance of “valuable clothes” that are subsequently discarded without a thought. Countries directly affected by this are typically ones with low socioeconomic standing, many countries are left with poor living conditions, specifically in terms of water and air.
Figure 2: Minimising Landfill Waste (Earth.org, 2023)
Around 1.2 million tonnes end up in landfills per year, from the UK alone. This is catastrophic in terms of the detrimental outcome of living standards in developing countries, “effects of environmental pollution on health-related outcomes have largely been evidenced in low-income countries, where an estimated 90% of the deaths are, in fact, caused by that type of pollution.” (Siddiqua, 2022). Sustainability, in relation to fashion, is one of the main targets companies intend to hit nowadays due to the growth in consciousness over consumption in recent years. Circular economy and “waste management” (Provin, 2021) is at the heart of the solution; waste itself decreases as the value of materials takes longer to decrease.
Figure 3: UN sustainable consumption goal 12 (United Nations)
The United Nations states 17 goals that link to the environmental, economic and social issues within the world today. SDG number 12 links directly to the fashion industry itself; “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns”. The United Nations aims to target high income countries, in terms of the huge environmental footprint left due to daily, mainly unnecessary, consumption of garments. The fashion industry itself recognises this, Conde Nast states the urgency to “commit a deep systems change”. This SDG holds significant relevance to the fashion industry, as it directly targets waste caused by the individual consumer. The impact of the SDG could mean that the core issue of the waste, left by high income countries, could be significantly decreased, creating a chain reaction in terms of pollution and overall health and living standards across the globe.
Bibliography:
Conde Nast Glossary. (unknown). Conde Nast Glossary. Available at:https://www.condenast.com/glossary/key-elements-of-fashion-and-sustainability/united-nations-fashion-industry-charter-on-climate-action. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
Coyle, M. (2022). 360k tonnes of reusable clothes are dumped in landfill each year. Available at:: https://planetradio.co.uk/greatest-hits/uk/news/fast-fashion-facts/. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
European Parliament. (2023).Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits. Available at:https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
Khattak, R. (2023). Minimising Landfill Waste: What Can We Do?. Available at:https://earth.org/minimising-landfill-waste/. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
Moore, R.(2015). Sustainable fashion consumption and the fast fashion conundrum: fashionable consumers and attitudes to sustainability in clothing choice. Available at:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijcs.12169. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
Provin, A.(2021). Circular economy for fashion industry: Use of waste from the food industry for the production of biotextiles. Available at:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040162521002900. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
Siddiqua, A. (2022). An overview of the environmental pollution and health effects associated with waste landfilling and open dumping. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-022-21578-z. (Accessed 7 October 2023).
United Nations. (unknown). 12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12. (Accessed: 7 October 2023).
Unknown. (2023). The three pillars of sustainability: people, planet, and profit. Available at: https://www.coolset.com/academy/three-pillars-of-sustainability#:~:text=The%20triple%20bottom%20line%20or%203%20pillars%20of%20sustainability,-The%20three%20pillars&text=The%20environmental%20pillar%2C%20%27planet%2C,considers%20environmental%20and%20social%20costs.(Accessed 6 October 2023).
Unknown. (unknown). Sustainability. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/sustainability#:~:text=In%201987%2C%20the%20United%20Nations,to%20meet%20their%20own%20needs. (Accessed 6 October 2023).