Fashion Industry Would be 80% Circular by 2030

02 July 2022: A recent report by Global Fashion Agenda reveals, fashion industry can be 80% sustainable by 2030 with increased investment in existing recycling technologies and infrastructures. Currently, the fashion industry is on track to overshoot its 1.5-degree pathway target almost twofold, with emissions of 2.1 billion tons of CO2 equivalents in 2030, compared to the 1.1 billion tons required to stay on the pathway. Ways to reduce these emissions include scaling circularity, adopting circular design principles, extending the use-life of products and materials and ensuring post-life that components break down and are reused or recycled into future items. The big challenge is providing conditions for scaling, which include collection and sorting infrastructure, and investment in the recycling sector to scale up capacity.

Manufacturing facilities often incinerate cotton waste for energy. The fashion industry needs to move away from this, and access to affordable, clean alternative fuels needs to be developed to shift incentives toward recycling and away from incineration. Bangladesh, one of the largest manufacturers of apparel, will need infrastructure investment and policy reform to achieve this.

Global Fashion Agenda found that there are three key components beyond post-production recycling that are a priority for pre-completive action, including standardized consumer labeling, infrastructure for collection and shorting, and shared logistics.

In addition, there also needs to be a reduction in the use of virgin materials. Material production contributes 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, with oil-consuming textiles the biggest contributor. While the technology to guide the fashion industry toward a more sustainable future is there, the infrastructure needs to be put in place.