Why We Need A Circular Economy

Reusing products is not only necessary for a sustainable future, but also makes business sense

RWANDA HAS a reason for opposing used clothes. Pushed by flawed trade regimes and myopic policies, these goods have nearly decimated the textile, apparel and leather industries in Africa. But elsewhere, a movement of sorts has gained momentum with celebrities urging consumers to choose secondhand clothes for a sustainable future.

“The textiles system operates in an almost completely linear way: large amounts of non-renewable resources are extracted to produce clothes that are often used for only a short time, after which the materials are mostly sent to landfill or incinerated,” says a report by UK-based think-tank Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Globally, clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015. During the period the number of garments purchased each year increased by 60 percent but the average number of times a garment was worn before disposal declined by 36 percent. More than the US $500 billion worth of natural resources are lost every year due to clothing underutilization and the lack of recycling, says the report. The volume and variety of natural resources that end up in landfill due to the lake make-disposal model are immense if one considers the diversification of the industrial economy and technological advancements. “Some 65 billion tonnes of raw materials entered the economic system in 2010, and this figure is expected to grow to around 82 billion tonnes in 2020,” says a 2014 report of the World Economic Forum. Three planet Earths would be required to accommodate the gargantuan waste humanity would produce by 2050, warns environmental group, the World Wide Fund for Nature.