“Fast fashion isn’t free. Someone, somewhere is paying,” explains Lucy Siegle (no date). Therefore, to ensure that the fashion industry functions effectively, and more importantly, in a sustainable manner, it is important to lay greater stress on the use of well-informed and environment-friendly methods of production as the fashion industry is the second-largest source of environmental pollution, just behind the oil industry as per The True Cost (2015). This has resulted in the depletion of water resources in China which is particularly problematic as it manufactures 65% of the world’s clothing (China Water Risk, 2011).
Rinkesh (no date) argues that the main cause of water pollution is industrial waste, including the contribution of the textile industry, thus, the fashion industry has as their prerogative to adopt ecological and holistic principles, learning from the data highlighting the need. For example, in China, 17 to 20 percent of industrial water pollution comes solely from textile dyeing (China Water Risk, 2011).
In addition to this, the fashion industry as a whole is considering a substantial reduction in its consumption of water. The environment concerns the consumers as well as the companies’ surroundings. Thus, focusing on the 6th and the 14th sustainable development goals is essential to develop a more eco-friendly atmosphere. The United Nations (2020) has listed ‘clean water and sanitation’ and ‘life below water’ as its primary objectives. This essay aims to investigate how the fashion industry causes an ecological imbalance by mainly focussing on the contamination of water bodies in China and the measures been taken by the fashion industry to become more sustainable in their process of creating apparel.
China’s water supply has been contaminated by the dumping of toxic waste. For instance, fashion is one of the most resource-intensive industries, both in terms of human resources and natural resources (The Danish Fashion Institute, 2017). One of the most indispensable resources used by the industry is water—it is used for cleaning raw materials and for flushing steps during production. For example, homogenization, neutralization, mechanical flocculation and chemical coagulation. The water generated in these processes is cleaned. However, this cleaning process results in the release of harmful substances like fat, oil, colour and other chemicals, (Lenntech, no date) leading to a total of 72 toxic chemicals being released into China’s waters. Of these, 30 cannot be removed. Leading to pollution in the waterways. (China Water Risk, 2011)
Subsequently, 85% of the water in Shanghai’s rivers was deemed unfit for consumption in the year 2015, according to authoritative code, and 56.4% was unsuitable for any other function. (The Guardian 2017) The Greenpeace International also (2014) describes an incident that took place in 2011, a team from Greenpeace East Asia’s Detox campaign discovered a huge black plume of wastewater around the size of 50 Olympic swimming pools on the surface of the sea near the city of Shishi, a centre for children’s clothing production. This waste was coming from Haitian Environmental Engineering Co. Ltd wastewater treatment plant which serves 19 of Shishi’s textile dyeing facilities. Due to this, China has witnessed an increase in the number of morbidities—according to the World Health Organization, the “release of toxins has caused an increase of 75% in health cases and over 100,000 deaths annually.” Cancer rates among villagers who live along polluted waters are much higher than the national average (China Water Risk, 2011). The report conducted by The Guardian (2017) found that water pollution had reached dangerous peaks across China. For instance, an image of the Pearl River with a dark blue streak of pollution running through it was taken by NASA, this “was the area of China where most of the blue jeans are manufactured”, McIlvride explained. (Webber, 2017) This evidences the increase of health risks in China.
As a result, Tingting (2017) explains, across China, the availability of drinkable water has become an issue pertaining to the quality of life as well as the need for survival.
Hence, the existence of heavy metals in seafood and rice has become increasingly common. This in turn, affects the food chain causing the spread of health peril and making the villages unfit for human survival. Similarly, Hsu (2014) avers that the contamination of water has become so severe that it confirms to not only have caused gastrointestinal and various other types of cancer in numerous villages, but to have also caused major adulteration in food items that require a large amount of water to grow or to survive in.
Jack Ma, a local resident of China and the chairman of the Alibaba group commented, “Two main cancers will worry every family in a decades time: liver cancer because of the water and stomach cancer because of our food… All our hard earned money will go towards medical bills” another local entrepreneur named Jing Jang Min shared a photograph of a river in his home town that used to be clean enough to wash him but is now badly polluted. (Move Over, Smog: China’s Water Pollution Off the Charts (LinkAsia: 3/1/13), 2013) The locals state, “Clean water is harder and harder to come by thanks to decades of unchecked industrial development.” (Water Pollution in China – The Toll of Unchecked Economic Development, 2013)
As a result of the unhealthy use of water, The United Nations (2020) is ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, as well as, the 14th sustainable development goal which is conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
In line with those goals, fast fashion companies are impacting the industry in a healthier manner and have started implementing more sustainable practices. One of them is an initiative taken by an Indian dye company called Colourtex to test out dyeing processes that don’t require the consumption of water. Waterless dyeing techniques they tested were Dyeing with Supercritical CO2, digital printing, Plasma Dyeing, Transfer Printing and Foam Dyeing but the one they found most affective was dyeing with supercritical fluid (SCF). This technique does away with the use of toxic components, fresh water and the generation of large waste streams. The dyeing and removing excess dye processes are also done in the same vessel leaving the recyclable residual dye to be minimal. More importantly, this technique generates zero waste water, has zero water consumption and uses zero processing chemicals which could intoxicate the water cycle. Taiwan and Thailand are two countries that have begun to use this process but the knowledge of such a technique is slowly spreading. (Mohammed, 2016)
North (2018) defines another solution – the ‘Better Cotton Initiative’ (BCI) co-founded by Levis in 2005 to reduce the environmental effects of cotton and reduce its water impact. BCI has branched out in China by training farmers to use specialised tools such as soil moisture meters, to water the soil only when its required, helping to maximise every drop. Large farms are upping this approach by investing in irrigation technology. In 2016-17, BCI farmers across China conserved 10% of the water they usually used as opposed to farmers that did not participate in the BCI training. In order to help BCI expand, the brands that have collaborated with them are – ASOS, Puma, Adidas, Ikea, Nike, Espirit, Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger. Ted Baker, Hugo Boss, Inditex, American Eagle and Ralph Lauren. This is a great venture as it has contributed to the 6th SDG through spreading awareness about the existing and future risks when developing climate adaptation strategies for agricultural water management and running a water stewardship pilot project with Helvetas and the Alliance for Water Stewardship and rolling out a new water stewardship approach in India, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, and Mozambique, BCI incorporates high street brands as well as retail brands in their movement; motivating the industry towards making a large cohesive overall change. (Better Cotton Initiative, no date)
In conclusion, the growth of the fashion industry has been deemed unhealthy for the environmental sphere as the natural resources are slowly diminishing, (China Water Risk, 2011) especially the water resources. The local water bodies of China, contaminated with toxic dyes that are used in creating garments with the remaining percentage of water being used in the manufacturing of cloth are rendering villages into cancer hubs and leaving an average of 4% of clean water for the survival of the residents living on the banks of the rivers (The Guardian, 2017). Shao (2011) describes an example of overuse and contamination of water as the Jian River flowing blood-red through the city of Luoyang, in north China’s Henan province. Therefore, the importance of the implementation of the 6th and 14th SDG’s so to provide healthy water and sanitation as well as the sustainable usage of water bodies is being understood in China. Instances like contamination of the Jian River and the wellness of the citizens of China lead to the awakening in the fashion houses to come up with more efficient sustainable methods and programmes of production such as the BCI and the SCF method of dyeing to save the environmental sphere and create a healthy cohesive atmosphere for all living beings.
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