Special Feature: WALES NET ZERO 2030
All this week we are looking at what we can do to help reduce our carbon footprint.
Last updated 29th Apr 2021
Today we are looking at fast fashion. It's a cyclical and seasonal industry. We're all guilty of impulsive purchases, buying that piece we've seen on our favourite celebrities or bagging that bargain we've found online. Some of us even have clothes in the wardrobe that still have the tags on. But we are being encouraged to be more mindful about our purchases and choose more ethical clothing.
Fast fashion is a huge problem and is the cause of mountains of waste and pollution. Some items we buy are so cheap that we don't even think twice when the seams fall apart of putting them in the bin. Every five minutes in the UK, an enormous 10,000 items of clothing are sent to landfill Keep Britain Tidy. Each year, this amounts to around £140 million worth of still wearable clothing Clothes Aid.
It isn't just the waste that is a problem. The volumes of water and pesticides used to grow the cotton and manufacture items is astronomical. Making just one pair of jeans uses around 1,800 gallons of water Keep Britain Tidy. The working conditions for many people employed in garment manufacturing are another huge cause for concern. Often involving long hours, unsafe environments, minimal pay and child labour.
But there are ways to make changes! With many alternatives to fast fashion, we can ditch it completely. One person who is passionate about making a difference is Welsh fashion designer Jayne Pierson.
Not only has she dressed the likes of Rhianna, Lady Gaga and the Kardashians, but she is also a big fan of sustainability. She chooses not to have a shop in a bid to cut her carbon footprint.
Jayne says it's important we all rethink the way we spend, opting for better quality items that will last.
Click Audioboom link to listen to Jayne Pierson.
(Image: Jayne Pierson speaking at The Wave's Women of Steel school tour in 2019)
Not everyone can afford to splash out on designer items and may want to choose other means of sustainable fashion. Luckily there are plenty of other options available.
Many people are choosing to shop second hand, by purchasing vintage clothing, perusing charity shops or buying online through companies like Depop, Vinted, Instagram and eBay.
Seventeen-year-old Jamie Sullivan from Cardiff has made his own business selling second hand clothes on these sites. He started Sullyz Vintage after finishing school, deciding he wanted to work for himself and to do something that would benefit the environment. Whilst buying second hand is an eco-friendly choice, he says that is not the only benefit.
"Clothes made from fast fashion brands are poorer quality. A brand can just put their logo on it and charge a higher amount. I also think that vintage clothing is very unique, and you'll be the only person wearing that item."
Clothes you might think are ready for the bin can instead be washed and reworked. Jamie added: "You can give it a whole new purpose in life and then someone can enjoy it."
Other people have taken more unique routes to overcoming fast fashion. Lin Williams from Porthcawl makes clothing, art and home items by crocheting plastic bags. These bags "never break down" and would otherwise have lived out the rest of their days piled high on landfills, but Lin's creativity has given them a new lease of life. She says this is her way of making a difference in a world dominated by fast fashion.
"I've got children and I want them to grow up in a world that's sustainable. I want to leave the world a better place, I think we all have a responsibility for that. If I can make a difference, even if it's just a small one then it's all the better."
Zero waste shopping
Amy Greenfield moved to the coast and was inspired to embark on an eco-friendly lifestyle after seeing all the plastic pollution littering the beaches. She was already an avid recycler but wanted to take that little step further. She decided to switch up her weekly grocery shop to make it greener but found herself travelling twenty miles to Cardiff and back to buy these items from a zero-waste store. This led her on a much bigger journey than she initially expected, creating the very first refill shop in the Vale.
The shop has around 180 dispensers containing whole foods, dried fruit, spices, cleaning liquid, shampoo… the list goes on. Refilling the containers you already have at home instead of buying new ones is a great way to produce less rubbish, and it's affordable too. Amy explained that she wants to make zero waste shopping "accessible to everyone's pocket".
"I constantly have people telling me the scales are broken when they've tried to buy thyme and its only charging them 11p and they think it's all wrong but actually it's the right price."
Asked how people can start shopping zero waste, she recommended doing a personal audit because everyone has such different shopping habits.
You can LISTEN to interview by clicking Audioboom link.
As well as starting her refill business, Amy created a Zero Waste Facebook community page. This now has over two thousand members who are joining forces to try and save the planet.
"It's great to read information on the internet about things you could do but having information about what is happening within a ten-mile radius of your house is quite different and its quite special. It's really inspired people to action. Rather than feeling overwhelmed and as though there's nothing they can do, people actually feel quite empowered to make a difference."
Another way to do your bit for the environment is to hold onto broken items and fix them instead of throwing them away. The Repair Café is a community interest company encouraging people to do just that.
You can LISTEN to interview by clicking Audioboom link.
Repair Cafes
There are around fifty Repair Cafes across Wales. Each of them host pop up community events where you can take household items to get fixed completely for free. You can bring anything from your broken coffee table to your Grans vintage sewing machine to your favourite pair of jeans, and volunteers will try to mend it. In the UK, around 1.3 million tonnes of electrical goods alone are thrown away every year, many of which could be fixed or recycled. By taking your things to get a new lease of life, not only are you saving money, you're also being sustainable.
Director Phoebe Brown says: "If you don't throw something away, it doesn't end up in landfill so we're not taking up landfill space. But also, there's a lot of energy that goes into the manufacturing process of an item. Particularly with electrical items which is around 70% of what we look at. So, if you can extend the lifespan of an item then you don't need to manufacture so many. It's obviously always better to keep your item going for as long as possible than having to buy a new one."
Scientist says "We've got to act."
Climate change is something that has been dominating our headlines for years, but the clock is ticking. A top Welsh scientist has warned that Wales is likely to experience more extreme weather such as flash flooding and droughts.
Fears for the future and eco-anxiety are becoming more and more common. Climate expert Professor Neil Glasser from Aberystwyth University expressed his concerns for the next generation who will be faced with what could be the worst of the climate emergency so far.
"We're handing the next generation a problem to deal with." "They're the generation that will have to wrestle with some of these problems. All the things we try and do now to help, for example eating less meat and dairy, reducing food miles, limiting flying, going for energy efficiency measures in homes. Those are all the things the next generation are going to have to have as standard. We don't want to give them a hospital pass."
He explained that decision makers and people in power have to listen to the younger generation saying: "What world are we passing onto them? We've got to act."
Despite his worries, Professor Glasser said that reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030 is a realistic target. He added: "You can't afford to get too dark about it because then you bury your head in the sand and do nothing."
You can LISTEN to interview by clicking Twitter audio link.
(Image Credit: Katy Keighley)
'Hybrid remote working.. the future'
Sophie Howe is the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales she says that we only have eight years left to save our planet from "catastrophic damage".
She talks about the similarities between the Coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis saying we were "underprepared" for covid despite a global pandemic being one of the top ten global risks for years. A climate crisis is the in the top three of global risks, which means we need to act fast.
You can LISTEN to interview by clicking Twitter audio link.
(Image Credit: Matt Horwood)
Sophie Howe adds that the lockdowns have meant working from home for lots of people, and how this has had a great positive effect on the planet.
"We've all been local." "The impact of home working, do we all need to be travelling down the M4 to get to work for nine o'clock? Covid has shown us no, actually we don't. We can work from home."
She says that as well as being really challenging, Covid has accelerated some positive trends.