[imagesource:pixnio]

Fast fashion is destroying our planet.

From the production to the distribution to the waste that it wreaks, all the world’s unsold, unworn, barely looked at clothes are wrecking the natural environment.

SkyFi, a company that provides access to satellite imagery, is shocking us all with an image of an enormous and ever-growing pile of discarded clothing that is sitting in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Shein party dresses, H&M sweaters, Zara trend pieces, and Uniqlo basics, among other cheap, unsold clothing are growing in heaps and mounds in a spot between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean, posing significant environmental concerns, reported Gizmodo.

The site contains an estimated 60 000 tons of clothes from Europe, Asia, and North America, the BBC reported. That, my friends, is just far too freaking much.

SkyFi explained in a blog post last week that members of its Discord channel had helped find the coordinates for the growing graveyard of trashed garments:

By purchasing a $44 Existing Image at 50 cm resolution, we can confirm the giant clothes pile in the desert of Chile exists and is growing. https://t.co/47SssKPdtI pic.twitter.com/RlfUSBWbu9

— SkyFi (@SkyfiApp) May 10, 2023

The Atacama Desert is the driest place on the planet, so dry that Atacama has been used as a stand-in for Mars by the European Space Agency and NASA. But the giant sand pit is not being preserved, instead used and abused by the fast-fashion industry:

So instead of donating clothes…they dump them in a fucking dessert in Chile???? https://t.co/qksWCBeaux

— 👑 OMNI🌞🌻🌬 (@Br00klynBabyKay) February 18, 2022

Because there are no tariffs, taxes, or customs-related fees in the nearby port town of Iquique, considered one of several “free zones” in Chile, the waste just keeps coming:

This was meant to boost the local economy, but it’s been catastrophic for the local environment. Clothing that is transported to the port city and isn’t sold is then dumped in the desert, because no one wants to pay fees to get those items out of the free zone.

Additionally, communities living nearby already have to contend with intentionally set fires that sometimes last for days, with the smoke causing health issues. Add the smoke that comes from the toxic, synthetic fabrics of your party dress and Friends T-shirt, and these poor people hardly stand a chance:

Any smoke is bad for our lungs, but this is cheap fabric that we’re talking about. Many synthetic fibers like polyester create toxic fumes when burned. Government officials have yet stop this from happening. A 2016 law holds producers and importers accountable for waste, but it does not include waste that comes from textiles, National Geographic reported.

Not to mention how the fabrics create heaps of microplastics, which end up in waterways, the air, and inside our bodies.

Vast dumps of used and unsold clothes pile up in the Atacama desert in Chile

Roughly half a million tons of microfiber end up in the oceans annually at the hands of fast fashion and your washing machine. This is the equivalent of 3 million barrels of oil. pic.twitter.com/KgpYkVdRR4

— GO GREEN (@ECOWARRIORSS) January 10, 2023

This post from Environment on Instagram sheds some much-needed light on the massive issue:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Environment by Impact (@environment)

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any stopping this growing pile, with clothing production doubling from 2000 to 2014, according to a 2016 McKinsey report.

Please, folks, mend anything broken, stitch the holes, upcycle and get creative. Buying more and more is not helping anyone except your own need to self-soothe and cope. Besides, fashion moves so fast there’s no point in staying on top of things. Just create your own unique vibe with what you have and second-hand and we’ll all be better for it.

[source:gizmodo]