Hello!! I will be talking about how certain countries and organisations have adopted stricter regulations when it comes to the manufacturing of clothings and certain movements done to reduce the environmental pollution.
In 2006, the European Union (EU) adopted the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) legislation that provides stricter requirements when it comes to the usage of toxic chemicals during the manufacturing process of textiles. They have created a Restricted substances list (RSLs) which includes Azos dyes that can release heavy metals such as mercury into the environment. Not only, that REACH also encourages companies to reduce the output of collections yearly (CBI Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2020).
In 2011, Greenspace started the ‘Detox My Fashion’ campaign to expose that brands are still making use of toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process. This challenged major sporting brands and ultimately let to brands such as Puma, Nike and Adidas committed to having zero toxic chemicals being released from their manufacturing process. Some of this chemicals include short chain chlorinated paraffins which are harmful to aquatic life (Cobbing and Vicaire, 2018). As of 2020, 80 international fashion brands have committed to this campaign.
As seen from above these are some of the ways that organisations and countries have carried out to reduce the harmful discharge that are produced by these fashion industries.
In the next blogpost, I will be sharing about ways that you as consumers can help with the problem of pollution from fast fashion!
Reference:
CBI Minitry of Foreign Affairs. 2020. What Requirements Must Apparel Comply With To Be Allowed On The European Market?. [online] Available at: <https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/apparel/buyer-requirements> [Accessed 28 September 2020].
Cobbing, M. and Vicaire, Y., 2018. Destination Zero: Seven Years Of Detoxing The Clothing Industry. [online] Germany: Greenpeace e.V. Available at: <https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-international-stateless/2018/07/destination_zero_report_july_2018.pdf> [Accessed 28 September 2020].
Featured Image:
Huffpost, 2012. Chemicals In Fast Fashion Revealed In Greenpeace’s ‘Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up’ (UPDATED). [image] Available at: <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chemicals-in-fast-fashion-greenpeace-toxic-thread_n_2166189?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF2NzVErGJ41WobXeZvbsPoXxXiZV9L4elzGYui1lRLiTqNKozmkBd2JTxZFRRKQZNsiYt2yyQe2pngoH_3dR7Gnt6wFVLy-lPbyGsABUXNTti4ra1K6j4G2DUw0K4jqm4LoWeTA-pvVIoFIWxygUxNyiwBGvLMX7TW0zTh08Yw9> [Accessed 28 September 2020].