Hello! We are back for the concluding post for the first section of our blog! We have focused greatly on water pollution from the posts so far where we have identified some of the issues from fast fashion that will cause water pollution. We hope to give you readers more understanding of the environmental pollution from fast fashion and we call to everyone to at least be aware of the pollution we create from fast fashion.
Let’s do a quick overview of what we have covered on water pollution and highlight some points that we thought to be more crucial and develop more on it! Firstly, we have brought up the point of the toxic chemicals that have arised from the production of textiles. Chemicals such as azo dyes and heavy metals are produced and most factories will dispose of these chemical wastewaters into nearby rivers before any form of treatment. These chemicals will be taken in by fishes and eventually enter the food chain where these chemicals will be carcinogenic on humans. Secondly, we have talked about the cotton used in our textiles being pollutive when we look at cotton growing. The amount of pesticides used is unbelievable and we have many cases of toxins, such as Aldicarb and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane better known as DDT, that are being washed out as runoff. Similar to the chemical wastewaters, these pesticides also pollute water bodies and will face bioaccumulation of pesticides in animals. Lastly, we have highlighted the severe issue of microfibres in our water bodies. As mentioned, the majority of the microfibres comes from our clothes washing and usually the water treatment plants that filter these wastewaters might not be able to catch these minute fibres. Microfibres then becomes a big problem when marine life treats microfibres as food and will also end up in the food chain as well.
From all the posts we have made so far, I think we have clearly highlighted the difficulty in trying to deal with pollution from a non-point source (NPS) and it becomes difficult to place the blame (Ranson, 2020). I believe it is also important to look at the locals who live along these rivers as they will probably be the ones that are the most affected by such chemical wastewaters. These locals might have little means to move away from the river or to find new sources of water or food and hence they are forced to live alongside such atrocious water quality that will not only affect their own health but also affect the health of their next generation. These chemicals will disperse after being released into the river and gradually get into people’s food which can result in people getting sick. Therefore, it is important to look for the root cause of such pollution even though it might not be as easy as we think it is.
In our water pollution section, we have also briefly talked about the measures we can take to reduce water pollution from fast fashion. We have suggested thrifting which is giving second life to old clothes and encouraging people to remove the stigma of getting clothes that are ‘good as new’. In Singapore, there is a student initiative Conscious Living Collective which advocates the idea of conscious consumers’ habits (Yong, 2019). These efforts are seemingly catching on among the younger generation where the youths are getting more aware of the environment they are in.
Other than looking at how to prevent further pollution, we have to understand the complexity of water pollution to better address the problem we have now. Thus, it is also important to realise that pollutants are able to transform and cause different types of pollutants. We then look at pollutants that have transformed from, for example, an air pollutant to water pollutant. Such discussion will be carried out in the next section of our posts where we will dive deeper into the air pollution from fast fashion and draw links to our water pollution entries. Do look forward to them!!
References:
Ranson, B. (2020). The true cost of colour: The impact of textile dyes on water systems – Fashion Revolution. Fashion Revolution. Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://www.fashionrevolution.org/the-true-cost-of-colour-the-impact-of-textile-dyes-on-water-systems/.
Yong, S. (2019). These youths want to make thrift shopping mainstream in Singapore. Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://www.youth.gov.sg/Spotted/Groups/2019/5/These-youths-want-to-make-thrift-shopping-mainstream-in-Singapore
