We Are What We Wear

As Jamaica celebrates the progress made in behaviour change towards plastic recycling on Global Recycling Day and recognises Earth Day, I wonder how many of us stop and consider the amount of water electricity and other energy sources that go into the clothes we wear?

On recent beach clean-ups that I have attended with my family and environmental club members, we have bagged many different types of clothing items, and unsurprisingly, lots of plastic! Although plastic recycling is very important, recycling clothes and making climate-conscious fashion choices are also important. 

The fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 10 per cent of global carbon emissions – more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. Every time we wash clothes hundreds of thousands of microscopic plastic fibres are released into the wastewater. These plastic fibres come from synthetic (plastic) textiles like polyester.

Over 60 per cent of textiles are synthetic. Suppose we consistently reuse and donate our clothes, shop more often at thrift stores, and wash clothes in cold water while keeping a keen eye on detergent use. In that case, we can reduce these emissions, conserve energy and reduce the number of items that end up in our landfills.

If easily accessible locations existed, people could regularly donate clothes. This is the idea behind UniCycle, a national school uniform recycling initiative and COME MEK WI DANCE, a dancewear distribution effort.

Started in 2019 by Jordan Nakash and siblings Rhys and Maria Greenland. UniCycle has leveraged close to J$3 million in school supplies to support families in need to date.

The two initiatives through support from the Ministry of Education and Youth’s National Education Trust (NET), arts education department, HEART, Project HOPE, the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), The Company Dance Theatre (CDT), Fontana, Digicel Foundation, Joseph’s and Megamart, have distributed over 3000 d uniforms, 1000 three-ply cloth masks, 500 dance costumes and dance wear items.

Our hope is for the government to establish a national system for textile recycling with regulations mandating the use of biodegradable materials, less water and electricity. These systems exist in Europe, the US and Australia and it can be done in Jamaica.

We know it’s possible because of the increasing support we have gotten without any major marketing efforts. We believe that if textile recycling drop-off locations were easy to access, people would contribute.

Jamaicans can do more, people can buy clothes second-hand more often, repurpose old clothes into rags, sort them and use them in cushion and mattress manufacturing, or even compost them if they are 100 per cent cotton. People can also upcycle old t-shirts into tee tote bags in six simple steps with no sewing needed.