WCTD provides written evidence to UK Parliament’s Fixing Fashion follow up Inquiry
Following the launch of World Circular Textiles Day on 8th October 2020, the WCTD’s co-founders submitted evidence paper as part of the UK Parliament’s Fixing Fashion Follow Up Inquiry and which has been accepted by the Environmental Audit Committee.
The Environmental Audit Committee will follow-up work on its 2018 inquiry, Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability. The Committee has chosen to revisit the issue to monitor progress due to continued concerns around the environmental impact of the fashion industry and working conditions in UK garment factories.
The Government rejected most of the Committee’s recommendations in 2019, which ranged from a producer responsibility charge to pay for better clothing collection and recycling to requiring due diligence checks across fashion supply chains to root out forced or child labour. However, the Government has identified textile waste as a priority area to address its Resources and Waste Strategy.
Fashion production has a considerable impact on climate and biodiversity. The global fashion industry is estimated to have produced around 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018: the equivalent to the combined emissions of France, Germany and the UK.
Fast fashion also creates a waste problem in the UK and developing countries. UK citizens buy more new clothes than any other European country and throw away over a million tonnes of clothing every year. While two thirds of clothing is either donated or collected for resale or low-quality recycling, around 336,000 tonnes are disposed of in household bins destined for landfill or incineration.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on garment factories in Leicester. Reports of poor working conditions suggests there has been little improvement since the Committee’s report, which recommended regular audits and for companies to engage with unions for their workers.
The Committee’s follow-up work will consist of gathering written evidence and a one-off oral evidence session.
About Environmental Audit Committee
The Committee’s remit is to consider the extent to which the policies and programmes of government departments and non-departmental public bodies contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development, and to audit their performance against sustainable development and environmental protection targets.
About World Circular Textiles Day WCTD which will take place every year on 8th October, was launched in 2020 to celebrate the efforts of a growing community of companies, organisations and individuals actively working towards a circular textiles’ future. Its main aim is to record the progress and chart the momentum of circularity in textiles.
For more information, please visit www.worldcirculartextilesday.com
Briefly describe your background, interests & areas of expertise:
Wide range interest and experience thinker. Ability to keep track of ever-changing interconnecting parts for the benefit of people, planet, and prosperity for all. Accomplished Strategist with 15+ years of experience with 200+ organizations worldwide via innovative and pioneering business approaches that drive results. Drove successful Circular Economy initiatives within Consumer-Packaged Goods, Fashion, and other industries. Authored vastly-downloaded (over 250), Circular Economy publication. Highly sought-after knowledge speaker with Industry Speaking Engagements globally. Exceptional ability to build/manage key partnerships.
What does circularity in the textiles industry mean to you?
Designing textiles for circularity from the get go. Taking back after the manufacturer or customer no longer has a need and keeping those valuable resources in use in the interconnected loops.
What does your company/organisation do to bring about circularity (core relevant activities/commitments, highlight short and long term goals, if relevant).
N/A freelance consultant
What made your decision to join the CAP?
I was very impressed with Cyndi’s presentation at Launch.org back in 2018. This is the tech, plan, and scale that’s needed to create real change within the textile industry.
How important is this Circular Advisory Panel approach for preparing a company like WA for the market (i.e., a business starting out with the sole purpose of enabling circularity but entering the market in ‘linear times’)? What do you think it will bring to the company?
I feel the CAP will bring years of experience, diverse expertise, different ways to look at the problems, a valuable expanded network, and real hands-on strategy work that nets results for WA.
What do you believe the biggest hurdles/opportunities for transitioning to a new circular business mindset will be, for WA, for the industry?
Engaging the manufacturers and customers in an easy way to give back the textiles and creating lines that will utilize the circular textiles 100%.
Name 3 things you think businesses will be doing differently in a circular future.
Designing for circularity, finding unlikely partners in unlikely places to interconnect the loops.
