Apparel August 2019 Apparel August 2019 issue | Page 93

GOING GREEN
PLASTIC WASTE HAS BEEN
STEADILY INCREASING
SINCE THE 1990S, WITH
THE 2000S GENERATING
MORE PLASTIC THAN
THE PREVIOUS 40 YEARS
COMBINED.
combination of fast consumerism and low-
cost materials has led to immense amounts of
wastage of plastic in the natural environment.
In fact, the United Nations reports that plastic
waste has been steadily increasing since the
1990s, with the 2000s generating more plastic
than the previous 40 years combined. Current
estimates place plastic waste production at
about 407 million tonnes a year as of 2015,
with a global backlog of about 8.3 billion tonnes
circulating in the environment. According to an in-
depth research conducted by Our World in Data,
the packaging sector alone is responsible for
about 42 per cent of all plastic consumption with
the textile sector coming in fourth on the list. And
while the majority of this wastage was originally
led by Western nations during their heyday, today
it is firmly rooted in the low-income nations of
the East. Currently, East Asia and the Pacific
region contribute about 60 per cent of global
waste, with South Asia being responsible for 11
IMPACT OF PLASTIC ON
THE ENVIRONMENT
Plastics have become a pervasive part of human
existence. Innovations and developments
in chemicals and industrial chemistry during
the early 20th century led to the creation of
modern commercial plastics in the 1930s. Soon,
materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene,
and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) became
the cornerstone of the modern consumer
age. Since then, it has only continued to grow
across industries and sectors, finding usage in
everything from agriculture to apparel. Today,
the global plastics market is poised to grow at
a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of four
per cent, reaching US$721 billion by 2025. In the
apparel and fashion industries, plastic has found
new applications with the rise of plastic-derived
synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon,
acrylic, and spandex.
The key attributes of plastic have always
been its versatility, cost-effectiveness, and
long durability. However, it is precisely this last
feature—long durability—that has made plastic
a major threat to the global environment. This is
mainly due to the fact that most businesses have
taken advantage of the low costs associated
with plastic and pursued a production cycle that
generates large volumes of cheap, disposable,
and single-use goods. This includes nearly
every product type from electronics, packaging
to apparel, and so much more. As a result, the
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