Globally, 90 billion tonnes of raw materials (i.e. biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals) are extracted and used each year. By 2060, this figure is expected to double. Our approach to the use of these materials is linear. Just 19% of waste is recycled or composted. The remaining 81% is incinerated or dumped.
To reduce the amount of raw materials being extracted and wasted, we must increase the effectiveness of waste management solutions and integrate waste back into supply chains. This can create value, which currently goes untapped. A recent report estimated that each metric ton of uncollected mixed waste represents an average loss of about $375. Thus, it is not surprising that adopting a global circular economy could create some $4.5 trillion value by 2030.
Fashion, A Case Study:
Fashion is a case in point. Clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014. Across the same period, the average length of time for which consumers kept each clothing item halved. This rise in demand has placed increasing strain on global raw material supply. Despite this increasing strain, in 2017, less than 1% of material used to make clothing was recycled.
The least sustainable sector of the fashion industry is fast-fashion. With relatively cheap products, the business model aims to allow customers to keep up with current trends. Production processes have to be low-cost in order to make fast-fashion viable; products are often made from a combination of different cheap materials. Such a blend of fabrics makes recycling these cheaper products difficult. These problems are compounded by the volume of clothes produced by fast-fashion companies. With some fast-fashion companies releasing as many as 20 new clothing lines each year, fashionable apparel quickly becomes outdated. Purchased at relatively low prices, and with such short product life-cycles, these clothes are perceived of as being disposable. Indeed, in the UK, 336,000 tonnes of clothes are disposed of in landfill each year.
There is, however, a profound circular shift underway in the fashion industry, driven by consumer demand. In a recent survey, two-thirds of textile sourcing executives said that consumer pressures for sustainably sourced materials would likely become a top factor in their supplier ratings by 2025. As a result of these changing patterns of demand, sustainable sourcing at scale will soon become essential for fashion companies who wish to remain competitive. Recycling and upcycling materials will be the main avenue through which sustainability can be achieved in the fashion industry. Reusing materials will allow the fashion industry, responsible for at least 4% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, to cut out carbon-intensive resource extraction processes.
A Circular Approach:
A circular approach which creates value whilst limiting waste and emissions must be adopted not solely by the fashion industry, but by industries across the board. From food to plastic production, we must reduce our linear approach, characterised by over-extraction and unused waste. Future Planet's focus on innovative solutions spinning out from the world’s top universities that intersect both digital and circular shifts ensures that these start-ups can realise their growth potential to make a substantial difference. While assisting with the creation of these new circular systems, they must characterise production and consumption to have a positive impact on our future planet.
by James Derham