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 APPAREL I August 2019 I 87