THEVOICE | 10 THE TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022 | AUGUST iii ie oo EDITORS L. POGORELO &L. VANDERDEEN _—————————— Specialinvestigation A a Ht } rT 1} | auitiid ite | a Mi ~ MARKET A woman walks past racks of used clothing for sale at a pop-up store in Vancouver, B.C. 1£5/4 POGORELO PHOTO Tonnes of discarded clothing weighs on local environment Attitudes toward clothing, fast-changing fashion needs to change: expert = By LESIA POGORELO & LAUREN VANDERDEEN etro Vancouver's yearly textile waste, includ- ing clothes, towels and sheets, is one- third the weight of the CN Tower. That’s 40,000 tonnes. Experts say brands, governments and consumers need to get educated on the effects of throwing out your used clothes — and take action. Lauren Degenstein, who has a master’s degree in human ecology and specializes in textile sustain- ability, said the increase in textile consumption began with the rise of “fast fashion” in the 1990s, when many different styles of clothes began to appear on the market and seasonal trends began to change rapidly. Consumers began buying more clothes and wearing each item fewer times. Not only has clothing quality decreased, but higher prices don't necessarily entail better quality. Since then, Degenstein said much of the responsibility for ethical purchasing falls to individuals. “We also need to have brand accountability, we also need to have policies in place so that brands are held accountable,” she said. City programs aid textile recycling Vancouverites can drop off their used textiles at the bottle depot Return-It station. Sandy Sigmund, Return-It’s vice-president of devel- opment and chief marketing officer, said the company is using its recy- cling infrastructure to make it easy for people to help the environment. In 2021, Sigmund said Return- It collected 478,853 kilograms of textiles, a 31 per cent rise from 2020. The collected textiles are trans- ferred to the Salvation Army for reuse. What’s not sold is shipped overseas to new markets. “What we need is to build in a circular economy, so that [textiles are] used over and over again, to be made into the materials and right now that does not happen,” Sigmund said. A circular economy aims to keep products out of the garbage, extend- ing the use of products to keep them recycled, they might confuse textile recycling with textile reusing. Return-It, the Salvation Army and other used clothing shops are all part of the reuse stage, but Sigmund noted there are no real textile recyclers in Western Canada. “T think in order for textile recy- cling to really become significant, especially here in British Colum- bia, or in Western Canada, we need to have local markets and markets to recycle the materials, so it can get turned back into the monomers and polymers made into fabric again, so that brand owners can use that fabric to make new clothes,” Sigmund said. Sigmund said that kind of textile recycling infrastructure doesn’t from becoming a necessarily waste. We also need to have come from the Metro +s * overnment. Vancouver's policies in place so stom. Think Thrice that brands are held ers need to campaign ” want to make strives to accountable. sure they’re educate resi- — LAUREN DEGENSTEIN, buying cloth- dents on reduc- DAVEY TEXTILE SOLUTIONS ing with recy- ing textile — waste, including options for repair and reuse. Karen Storry, a senior engineer for Metro Vancouver's solid waste services, said while running the campaign, she found that people didn’t understand that they could donate any kind of textile, as long as it’s clean and dry. Even holey shirts and ripped jeans have a market. Sigmund said while most people understand that plastic bottles can be — cled content to increase demand and influence brand owners to source new materials. “The best regulation is one that just says you should have some recycled content in your material,” Sigmund said. “That incentivizes both custom- ers to want it, and brand owners to provide it.” Storry said other countries have implemented some regulations for clothing brands. She said France has introduced an extended producer repair program for textiles. Durability standards, which are emerging in the electronics sector, could happen for textiles, as could lower taxes for textile repair. On March 30, the European Union proposed new regulations to ensure clothing sold in Europe is longer- lasting and easier to repair in an attempt to reduce textile waste. The initiative will also provide consum- ers with more information on how to reuse, repair and recycle their clothes. Shopping habits hard to break Awareness of the problem doesn’t necessarily deter people from buying new. Oksana Honcharova said shop- ping always cheers her up. Honcha- rova lives in the small Saskatchewan town Bienfait and enjoys the variety of clothes she can find online. “It especially delights me when you look for a thing for a long time, and then you find that very perfect handbag — these feelings cannot be explained in words. Joy has no limit. New things give me the feel- ing that something new and pleas- ant will definitely happen in my life,” Honcharova said. Angela Marie MacDougall is the executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services which runs My Sister's Closet, an “eco-thrift boutique.” “We're trying to bring more ethics into shopping and clothing,” MacDougall said. “We're not at a critical mass yet, not even close, but we are definitely pushing for that.” MacDougall wants to draw aware- ness to the interconnected, global systems that our clothing is a part of. For Honcharova, purchasing is still part of her lifestyle. “T feel guilty if 1 don’t buy some- thing. I sit and suffer, walk around the apartment and look for what needs to be replaced or bought in addition, reviewing my wardrobe and trying to find what I lack. And, as a rule, I always come up with a reason to buy,” Honcharova said. Degenstein’s first suggestion for a person who wants to change their purchasing habits is to look to what’s already in your wardrobe. She also recommended developing a cost per wear system and encouraged buying from thrift stores and participating in clothing swaps. Storry said you can look great, minimize waste and save money by buying used clothes. “It’s really time to rethink our our closets and how we manage our clothes, and to look for things that you're going to love for a long time and wear for a long time,” she said. For Degenstein, the shift is needed. “T don’t foresee in the future, when we have more resource scarcity, that we can just continue to produce and consume as much as we are,” she said. “I would say both in environmen- tal and social standpoint, there needs to be changes because it’s just not a sustainable industry, in that we’re using up all the resources we need for it to continue.”