How would you define sustainability?
I would define sustainability as a process which does not cause depletion or damage to resources or environment. For example, if you throw away a damaged book it should be recycled into a new book, not thrown into landfill.
In what contexts is sustainability an issue?
Sustainability is an issue in many areas thanks to the worlds obsession with money (which I totally understand, I just wish people were a bit more thoughtful about how they go after it).
Areas I can think of where sustainability is an issue
- CO2 emissions in the atmosphere – pollution levels in the air- air quality made unsustainable
- Fossil Fuels – depletion of a finite resource – unsustainable
- The destruction of the worlds trees – oxygen production – air quality made unsustainable
- Plastic – lives forever in landfill – infiltrating the ecosystem – food source quality and landfill capacity made unsustainable
- Textiles – requires vast natural resources to realise – capacity of the natural environment to absorb the toll made unsustainable
- NHS – attempting to fix a society increasingly subject to large quantities of lifestyle based disease in addition to normal illness/injury – capacity to cope made unsustainable
- Housing – the planet has too many people yet there is still relentless breeding taking place, so people build on green spaces to house the people, which kills the environment, which people then complain about, and somehow it’s always someone else’s fault – Unsustainable
- Meat consumption -currently a hot topic – linked to toll on atmosphere and the ridiculous number of people on the planet – meat production has been made unsustainable
- The public interest in Brexit! – endless debates over a course of years with no real decisions – interest in Brexit is rapidly becoming unsustainable š
How do you think sustainability might be addressed in relation to the production and consumption of textiles and other manufactured products?
I can think of a few ways in which the sustainability of textiles and manufactured products could be addressed. First, increased public awareness. As I said previously, I would class myself as reasonably well informed about matters concerning the planet, I had absolutely no idea about the toll the textile industry has on the environment. If I don’t know then there will be others that don’t either. With increased awareness will come more local efforts at recycling, more individuals donating clothes to charity shops for a second life and more awareness about choosing the right article to buy in the first place.
This leads me on to shopping choices. When people became more conscious of the need to eat less meat, they brought more vegetarian meals, when plastic became a known issue, franchises had to do away with straws. If a similar demand can be made in the area of textiles, more response will be required from the textile industry to look at sustainability. This could be something as simple as recycling more cloth and including it in their new creations as either a whole or a percentage such as Levis who now use recycled plastic to make jeans . It could even be a feature item such as a ‘jumper for life’.
H+M are one store which are making a public move towards a more sustainable approach with recycled elements in their clothing and a lot more information about their manufacturing processes on their website.
Another way to aid sustainability could be by varying the materials used to make the textiles. I found an interesting article entitled ‘The top 10 sustainability trends coming out of textile exchange’. In it it describes the notion of the circular economy and how companies are starting to move towards it. There were some interesting examples of these moves towards sustainability involving crops such as a company called ‘Orange Fibers’ which makes a silk-like fabric out of orange peel. Another named Vegea has used grape skin to make a fabric similar to leather, this initiative is being backed by H+M.
Making recycling easier for people could be another way to help sustainability. Maybe something like a recycling deposit box in-store? If. for example, I’m going to Primark for a replacement top, it’s easy enough for me to take my old broken one there at the same time and put it in a recycling bin.
The last method I can think of to aid sustainability is to relocate clothes manufacturing. If English peoples clothes were made in England the monetary costs would be higher, but the carbon footprint of each item would be a lot less. A byproduct of that would probably be that we’d not be able to afford to buy clothes…which would drive us all to the charity shops….which would cause better recycling but then unemployment within the clothing factories….oh it’s complicated!
( Study.com. (2019). Textile Industry & Sustainability | Study.com. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/textile-industry-sustainability.html [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].)
Donaldson, T. (2019). The Top 7 Sustainability Trends Coming Out of Textile Exchange. [online] Sourcing Journal. Available at: https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/sustainability/top-7-sustainability-trends-coming-textile-exchange-td-74311/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].
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